Tangled Up
by Hannah Longbottom
Summary: Hermione Granger has had her heart broken, Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter both love each other silently and Ron Weasley would rather toy around with Lavender Brown than confess his love for Hermione. Oh, what tangled webs these Hogwarts students weave!
1. Heartbreak

Hey guys hannah longbottom here! this is the VERY FIRST CHAPTER of my VERY FIRST FANFICTION so please try and be nice! Thanks I hope you like it enjoy!

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Chapter One: Heartbreak

Hermione Granger sat in the corner of the library with only her Transfiguration books for company. The notes that she'd gotten off Professor McGonagall only yesterday were drenched with tears that had been unceasingly falling from her dark brown eyes since she'd arrived at the library. Those ugly words, that heartbreaking piece of information that she'd received only an hour ago was all that was running through her mind. **_Ron was going out with Lavender. _**She could scarcely believe it. She'd thought she and Ron were so close. But it wasn't only Ron's stupidity and ignorance that was causing her so much heartbreak.

**_Lavender knew._** Lavender knew how she felt about Ron. Lavender knew that Hermione had been loving him since first year. And yet, she still went ahead and went out with Ron. And Hermione had taken all her rage out on Ron. Maybe she shouldn't have set the birds on him but she was just so angry with...

"Miss Granger!"

Her thoughts were interrupted by the librarian, Madam Pince.

"Please kindly pack up your belongings and return to Gryffindor Tower. I thought you of all people would be aware off the library's closing times!"

Hermione gathered up all her backs with her back turned to Madam Pince, so that the librarian would not see how red her eyes were.

The common room was still packed when she returned to Gryffindor Tower. She had every to go straight to the girls dormitories, but Dean waylaid her by trying to wrap one of his handmade Gryffindor banners around her shoulders.

"Dean," she sighed. "I'm really sorry. I know you're happy that Gryffindor won the match, but I'm really not in the mood for celebrations right now." She handed him the banner and started towards the stirs leading up to the girls dormitories.

"Oh not another one!" Dean exclaimed, exasperatingly. "You're worse than Ron was!"

Hermione turned around slowly.

"Ron?" she enquired. "Why, what did Ron do?"

"He went upstairs about an hour ago. Said he didn't feel like celebrating anymore. He looked really gutted about something, and he had red marks all over his face and arms. Lavender didn't look to too happy about Ron going either."

Dean walked away looking bemused, and went to sit beside Seamus, who was staring moodily into the fire with a brooding expression on his face.

Lavender sighed and walked up the stairs.

When she got to her dormitory, Lavender was sitting on Parvati Patil's bed. Lavender looked up at Hemione's arrival and beamed at her.

"Hi Hermione! Where've you been?"

Without so much a look at Lavender, Hermione stormed over to her bed and began to put her books away.

"Hermione?" Lavender said, tentatively. Hermione ignored her and got into her pyjamas

"Hermione, are you alright? Is it..."

Lavender's sentence was cut short as Hermione slammed one of her drawers fiercely and got into bed.

Lavender nevertheless went on. "Is it because I'm going out with Ron?"

Hermione paid no attention whatsoever to Lavender and started to tie her into a ponytail.

"Hermione, I'm really sorry!"

"No you're not." Hermione said, in a cruel, cold voice that Lavender had never heard her use before.

"Hermione, please don't be like this!" Lavender begged, her voice faltering.

Hermione got out of bed to get a book off her shelf, as she thought that reading a book might be a good way to steadily ignore Lavender. She did it with her back turned to her though. She couldn't look at her right now.

"Hermione, I am really sorry! I know how you feel!"

Hermione wheeled around. She looked furious. Her dark brow eyes that usually looked so gentle and calm, now looked fierce and piercing.

"You know how I feel!?" she shouted. "Don't you dare say that! You have absolutely no idea how I feel! You have no idea how it felt walking into the common room and seeing you and Ron together. You have no idea how hurt I am, and not only don't know. You also don't care! So don't you dare pretend that you do!"

And with that, Hermione got into bed, wrenched the hangings shut and spoke no more, leaving a deadened silence lurking in the dormitory, that was only interrupted by Lavender's sobs as she too got into bed.


	2. The Closest Comfort

The next morning, Hermione got up, got dressed and went down to breakfast without saying a word to Lavender. On her way she met Peeves, and who promptly started pelting ink pellets at her, which made Hermione tell Peeves to do something that she only told people to do when she was extremely agitated.

The only people down at the Gryffindor table were Seamus, Dean, Harry and Ron. Hermione took a seat next to Harry.

"Morning," she said to Harry. "Oh, by the way Harry, congratulations on winning your Quidditch match yesterday. Sorry, I didn't really say so last night."

"It's fine," Harry assured her. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hermione looked around the table. Harry and Dean were behaving perfectly normally and talking while eating they're breakfast, but Seamus was just staring down at his cereal and holding his spoon, but not actually eating. She chanced a glance at Ron, preparing herself to look away if he caught her looking at him. But Ron was looking anywhere but at Hermione. She saw the red marks all over his face and arms that Dean told her about last night. It made her stomach squirm with guilt.

"Morning, Won-Won!"

Harry, Hermione, Dean, Ron and even Seamus looked up to see who had just called someone that ridiculous name in that ridiculously high voice. It was the last person Hermione wanted to see, Lavender accompanied by Parvati and walking towards Ron with a sickening smile on her face.

Lavender took the seat beside Ron and then, after a cold look at Hermione, she started kissing him, right there at the Gryffindor table.

Harry looked down at the table and he caught sight of Hermione's hand trembling as she reached for more pumpkin juice. He glanced at her and he saw tears welling up in her eyes. Lavender and Ron finally broke apart, leaving Ron looking very surprised but quite pleased.

Seamus threw his spoon down on the table and got up. "I'm going back up to Gryffindor, I'm not really hungry anymore." Hermione sniffed.

"Erm, Seamus , I'll come with you. I'm not feeling too hungry either."

And with that, the two of them walked back towards Gryffindor Tower.

Hermione and Seamus didn't say a word to each other as they walked out of the Great Hall, but Hermione could tell that Seamus was feeling the exact same way that she was feeling. Everyone knew that Seamus had liked Lavender since the Yule Ball, two years ago.This fact made Ron just as much in the wrong as Lavender was in all of this. But she supposed that this whole situation must be worse for Seamus, simply because of the fact that boys didn't really talk about they're feelings much. Which is why Hermione was quite surprised when Seamus suddenly cleared his throat and said:

"Hermione. I think you're probably the only person who knows exactly how I feel at the moment."

Hermione peered at Seamus, curiously.

"Errm," she stammered. "What do you mean?"

She knew perfectly well what he meant. But she didn't want to give in too easily, just in case Seamus was only guessing.

"I know how you feel about Ron, Hermione."

When he said this, Seamus looked right at her and his usually jaunty and jokey tone was now so serious, that it unsettled Hermione slightly.She found that she couldn't look him in the eye.

"Do all the boys know?" she asked, in a meek voice.

Seamus sighed. "Only me and Harry, but he doesn't really talk about it much anyway."

"How did you two find out? The only person I talk to about these things is Ginny."

"Well, Harry's smart, he figured it out ages ago. He didn't even have to ask you. I only found out last night. I knew because you looked exactly how I felt, and I just put two and two together."

Seamus heard Hermione sigh and when he turned towards her, he saw her pinch the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Hermione, don't worry," he reassured her. "It's not something that either me or Harry would even think about spreading around."

"Hmm," muttered Hermione, simply. She couldn't get over how strange this was. She couldn't believe that she was really having this conversation with eamus. It just seemed to unreal.

Within minutes, they had reached the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Dilligrout," Seamus said.

"Yes, indeed dear!" said the Fat Lady, shrilly, as her portrait swung forwards.

When they reached the girls' staircase and Hermione turned to go up them, Seamus grabbed her arm so that she had to turn around to face him.

"Hermione, seriously," he started to say, awkwardly. "Your secret is safe with me. And Harry."

Hermione smiled at him, because she knew by the expression on his face tht Seamus was telling the truth, and that he also really cared.

She was so grateful that she gave him a hug, and he reciprocated.

But then, after a few seconds, they heard a gasp behind them. They both broke apart and turned around to see Lavender standing a few feet away from them with a strangely wounded expression on her face.

She pushed past both Hermione and Seamus, and went up the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

Seamus and Hermione looked at each other in confusion. But then, Seamus shrugged his shoulders and started walking towards the boys' dormitories.

Hermione just stood there, thinking. She was half furious with both Lavender and Ron, but half confused as well. Lavender had lookd oddly upset when she'd seen her and Seamus, but Hermione, for the life of her, couldn't think why.


	3. Tears Inside

"You know, I don't understand why she's so upset."

Ginny and Hermione were sitting by the fire in the common room that evening, and Hermione had just told Ginny what happened this morning with her, Seamus and Lavender.

"I mean, you didn't do anything wrong. I know she likes Seamus, but she's going out with Ron. She can't have both of them."

"But the thing is," said Hermione. "She got the completely wrong idea about me and Seamus. It was just a friendly hug. That's all."

"I know that," Ginny explained. "But even if something were going on between you and Seamus, she can't do anything. She's got a boyfriend now."

"I suppose," Hermione sighed. "I'm still furious with her anyway."

"Hmm." Hermione glanced at Ginny. She was now staring into space and chewing intently on one of her nails.

"So," Hermione said in as bright a tone as she could muster. "How's your love life going?"

"It's not," Ginny said, simply, not looking away from the space she was gazing at.

Hermione frowned. "What do you mean, 'it's not'? You have a boyfriend, don't you?"

"Yeah, a boyfriend that I don't even like."

Ginny sighed. "He's just really annoying me. It just seems like every little thing he does irritates me. But it's not even because it's Dean. It's just because it's..."

"Not Harry," Hermione finished for her. Ginny nodded and began chewing on her nail again.

"So, why don't you just end things with Dean?"

"It's slightly more complicated than that, Hermione."

"So, what do you _want _to do next?"

"I don't even know. All I'm sure of is that, against all odds, I love Harry."

"So, what are you going to do about Dean?"

"I really don't know. I feel really bad because I'm always getting angry at him. I don't mean to snap at him all the time, it's just that everytime I'm with him I just seem to be very aware of the fact that he's not Harry, and I just get really irritated."

There was a silence in which only Hermione and Ginny's steady breathing could be heard.

"So," said Ginny, breaking the silence. "What are you going to do about Ron?"

Hermione stared at her. "Ginny, he has a girlfriend. I can't do anything! Why, what do you suggest I do?"

Ginny looked at her and said, quite calmly, "Hermione, I'm just going to say this: some things are worth fighting for."

Before Hermione could say anything, the portrait door swung open and some very loud giggling could be heard. When Hermione looked around, she saw Lavender and Ron walking into the common room, holding hands. Hermione turned her head back around and stared into the fire. Ginny gave her a concerned look before giving Ron a very cold one.

Lavender and Ron seated themselves on the small sofa directly in front of Ginny and Hermione. They promptly started kissing. This was too much for Hermione. How could Lavender do that right in front of her?

She got up and turned to Ginny and said, "I think I'm going to go for a walk."

"Well, OK then, see you later," said Ginny, in a concerned voice.

It didn't look like Ron would come up for air anytime soon, but as soon as Hermione stepped out of the portrait hole, he looked up. Ginny gave him a look of deepest loathing and made a sound of great disgust.

"What?" Ron asked, angrily.

"Well, it is a public area, Ron," Ginny said loudly, in an exasperated tone.

"There's only three of us including you!" he shouted, his ears turning pink.

"Oh, so you're just aiming to make me sick then!" she yelled.

"Just mind your own business, alright?"

"It's kind of hard to do that when it looks like someone is trying to vacuum someone else's face off right in front of you!"

Just then, the portrait door swung open and Harry walked in. He looked at both Ginny and Ron's scarlet faces and furious expressions, decided it was best not to ask, and sat down in the armchair nearest Ginny.

For a while, there was quite an awkward silence. Then, Lavender broke the silence with, perhaps, the most unwanted question possible.

"Harry, do you still like Cho Chang?"

Ginny's face, which had been scarlet a couple of minutes before, suddenly went pale. Harry looked at Lavender strangely.

"Errm..." he stuttered. "No."

"So, what happened with you two then?"

"I dunno," Harry felt very uncomfortable. "We just sort of...fell apart really."

"Oh right," said Lavender. She turned to Ginny instead.

"Ginny, are you still going out with Dean?"

Ginny was looking anywhere but at Harry, but if she had been looking at Harry, she would have seen him clench his fists and his bright green eyes flash.

"Yes," she said in a strained voice. "Yes, I am."

"Oh, cool," Lavender said, in a casual tone. There was a couple more minutes silence and then Dean himself walked into the common room.

"Hi!" he said to everyone, jovially. He beamed at Ginny when he saw her.

"Hi," he said. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"No, I'm not really in the mood right now. Sorry."

"That's OK," Dean said, unperturbed.

Ginny was, in fact, in the mood to go for a walk, just not with Dean.

He sat down next to Ginny on the sofa and then, quite nonchalantly held her hand. Ginny felt very strange, but she didn't know why. What was the matter with her? Dean had held her hand plenty of times before. Maybe it was the fact that Harry, her brother and his girlfriend were watching.

Just then, very abruptly, Harry suddenly got up and said:

"I'm really tired, I'm going to go to bed." And, without even a backwards glance at Ginny or Dean, he walked out of the common room and went up the stairs towards the boys dormitories.

Ginny couldn't work out the reason behind Harry's sudden departure, but then her eyes fell on Ron and Lavender, who were now glued to each other again. So then, she asumed that Harry had just wanted to get to a place where there were plenty of buckets and sinks around, she really did not blame him.

Ginny sighed heavily. Now, she suddenly felt like going to bed.

"Are you OK?" Dean asked, suddenly.

"I'm fine," said Ginny, bluntly.

"You're obviously not," he insisted.

Ginny started to feel that familiar sense of irritation tht she always seemed to feel whenever she was around Dean, but except this time, it seemed to double.

"Oh, so you're telling _me _what _my _feelings are now, are you?"

Dean looked startled.

"N-n-no!" he stuttered. "I'm not telling you your feelings. It's just...you didn't look very happy, that's all. Don't get angry."

"I wasn't angry before, but I am now simply because you told me I was!" yelled Ginny. "Don't expect me to go around ludicrously ecstatic all the time!"

Dean let go of her hand.

She was now getting so angry that even she didn't understand why. She wasn't even thinking about the fact that Ron and Lavender were right in front of them, and had now broken apart and were both staring at her and Dean.

"No, I don't!" shouted Dean, who was also starting to get angry. "I just don't like seeng my girlfriend upset, that's all!"

Ginny stood up sharply and looked down at where Dean was sitting and yelled:

"Well, lucky for you, you might not have to see that for much longer!" Her face was now, once again, almost as red as her hair, which wasn't a very good look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Dean, in a hard tone.

"It means that I might very well not be your girlfriend for much longer!"

After Ginny said this, she left a silence so deafening, you could have heard a pin drop. She glanced at him, and she could instantly tell that this had really hurt him.

"You don't really mean that," Dean insisted, quietly.

"There you go again telling me my feelings, Dean! How do you know I don't really mean it? You're not me!"

And with that, she wheeled around sharply an stomped towards the girls' staircase.

"Gin, come back!" Dean called after her.

Ginny froze and turned around. Now, every single inch of her head was fiery red.

"DON'T CALL ME GIN!" she bellowed at him.

Dean could not believe that she could shout so loudly. He had never seen her so angry.

Ginny turned bck around and ran up the stairs. But halfway up, she stopped and knelt on one of the steps and burst in to tears as she thought about how much pain she was causing Dean, but also about how much pain that Harry was causing her, without even realizing.


	4. Jealousy and Courage

Hello readers! I'm really sorry this chapter took so long! I was away at shool...but I'm here now! Just to warn you all, this chapter is very long...it's more than double Chapter One...just warning you! Please R&R! Thank you! xxx 

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Ginny sat in the middle of the girls' staircase and wept and wept. She really did not care if anyone came and met her there. She made a decision in her mind, she would go and find Hermione. Hermione was probably the only person who knew remotely how Ginny felt at that moment.

She wiped her eyes, stood up and ran down the stairs. She ran straight through the common room, not knowing or caring whether Dean was there or not, and straight throught the Fat Lady's portrait hole. Once she had heard the portrait door close again, Ginny started to slow down.

Just then, she heard a bolt of lightening. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked out the nearest window. There was a ferocious storm outside. Ginny sighed and walked down the stairs. She hoped Hermione wasn't outside.

The thought had barely gone into her head, when she hear she heard squeaky, slippery footsteps. When she raised her head, she saw Hermione walking up the stairs towards her, sopping wet from head to toe. Hermione was looking down at her feet and didn't appear to have noticed Ginny standing in front of her. Indeed, she looked like she was about to walk right past her, but Ginny grabbed her arm.

Hermione looked up in surprise. Ginny could see that her eyes were red and swollen. She knew that words wouldn't be anywhere near enough to comfort Hermione, so she simply showed her feelings in a hug. Even though, she didn't say a word, Hermione knew that Ginny knew exactly how she felt and needed comfort just as much as she did.

"Shall we go up to the dormitory?" Ginny asked, choking back tears. Hermione gave a loud sniff and looked at her watch.

"Yes," she said, finally. "Why not? We're not exactly missing out on the pleasant weather!" Hermione gave a jovial laugh, but tears spilled down her flushed cheeks.

Together, the two girls walked up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower.

"Dilligrout," Ginny said, to the Fat Lady's portrait.

"If you insist," said the dozing Fat Lady, without opening her eyes.

The two girls walked through the common room, which was now deserted. They were both relieved about this; neither of them really fancied running into Dean or Ron and Lavender.

When Hermione walked into her dormitory, she saw Lavender and Parvati lying on Parvati's bed, looking like they were deep in conversation. As soon as they saw Hermione, they immediately stopped talking. They had evidently just been talking about her. But Hermione really couldn't care less. She walked past both of them and sat down on her bed. Then, she realised how uncomfortable and wet she was from the rain. 

"Hermione?" Parvati said, softly.

Hermione looked up at her. She saw the kind, concerned expression on Parvati's face, and Hemione instantly realised that, despite appearnces, Parvati was really just piggy in the middle in this whole situation. Hermione felt very warm to Parvati becauseof this. 

"Yeah," Hermione said, in an equally soft tone. 

"Where have you been?"asked Parvati.

"Just...out for a walk," Hermione said, peeling of her soaking wet socks. 

"But, it's pouring rain outside!" Lavender said, in a shrill voice. 

Hermione looked at Lavender. 

"Really? I had no idea!" she said, in a very sarcastic voice.

Lavender looked stricken. She got out from Parvati's bed and got into her own. She turned off her bedside lamp, lay with her back to Hermione and spoke no more. 

Parvati sighed. Hermione wanted to say something to her, she wanted to apologize to Parvati because she had to live in the midst of all this. But she felt that she couldn't string two words together, a problem that Hermione had never had before. 

Instead, she got into her pyjamas and lay down in her own bed without even bothering to use a drying spell on her soaking wet hair. This made a damp patch on her pillow and made her shiver, but she did not care. She needed to think. 

She'd given Ron plenty of chances, hadn't she? Plenty of oppurtunities. Okay, maybe excluding fourth year when she went out with Krum. But aside from that, there were plenty of times when Ron could have told Hermione how he felt. She had left him all sorts of hints, but he'd either been too thick to pick them up or refused to show his true feelings. But, what was she supposed to do now? Ginny had said that she should fight for him, but he had a girlfriend. 

Then, Hermione had a brainstorm. Ginny had once told her that boys tend to want what they can't have. Maybe if Hermione made herself less available, Ron would take notice of her more. Maybe it would even make him a tiny bit jealous. But how would she be able to get a boy who would be willing to go out with her at the snap of her fingers? 

Then, a thought ocurred to Hermione. Professor Slughorn was having a Christmas party for what he called the "Slug Club", which wereagroup of his Hogwarts favourites, in a few days. She had asked Ron to go with him, but she knew that he couldn't now. It was a lot more simple to get a boy to simply go to a party with her than to go out with her. But who would she ask? Neville? No, there'sa slight chance that Ron would just find it comical. Seamus? No, she would find it very strange to be doing this with a person who was in the same situation as she was. She couldn't do that to Seamus. Maybe it would be a bonus if she went with someone Ron didn't like. Malfoy? No! She would rather eat frog bile than go with Malfoy! As if, he would go to Slughorn's party with her anyway. Malfoy called her a Mudblood on a regular basis.

Then, Hermione thought of the perfect person. Someone who Ron didn't hate as much as he hated Malfoy, but who he definitely did not like. She never sunk as low as this in any situations, but she thought that Ginny was right. Some things are worth fighting for, and she felt that Ron was one of them. Even if she had to do a few things that weren't really morally correct, she felt that Ron was worth it. 

The next morning, Hermione staredinto her bowl of cereal as everyone around her ate breakfast. 

"Hermione, are you OK?" Seamus asked.

She looked up at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she answered. "Thanks, Seamus." She gave him a small smile and he returned it. 

Hermione was sitting in between Harry and Ginny. Opposite Ginny was Dean, whorefused to look her in the eye.Next to him were Ron and Lavender, who were, as usual, locked in a tight embrace, and next to them was poor Seamus, who looked as interested in his cereal as Hermione had been in hers. 

Ginny was tapping her spoon against her cereal bowl in an impatient manner. Her lips looked so thin, it seemed like they weren't there at all. Then, finally, she snapped. 

"For goodness sake, Ron!" she said in a sharp voice. She sounded surprisingly like her mother. 

Ron looked up, and he looked annoyed, as if Ginny had just interrupted him in the middle of something important.

"You do know that this is where people eat, don't you?" Ginny said, in the same sharp voice. "This is where people eat, meaning they don't usually like to throw up while they're eating. So do you think that you could please show us all some courtesy and do that in a bathroom where people are more likely to throw up, so that the sight of you doing that will make the job easier for them!"

Dean, Seamus, Harry and Hermione started tittering silently. Ron glared at Ginny, then at Harry, who immediately stopped tittering. 

"Shut up, Ginny!" he said, lamely.

"Nice comeback, Ron! You really got me there!"

Ron's ears were so red, they were in danger of going on fire. Lavender looked very embarassed too, but that still didn't stop her from grabbing Ron and picking up where they'd left off.

"Well, if you don't find the nearest bathroom, I will!" said Ginny, getting up from the table. "Hopefully the sinks are deep enough!" 

As Ginny walked away, Dean quickly got up and followed her. 

A few minutes passed, and Cormac McLaggen arrived and sat next to Hermione. 

"Cormac?" she said in a charming and quite audible voice. "Can I have a private talk with you, please? Just outside, it'll only take a minute."

"Cormac looked very surprised. "Errm...OK," he grunted. 

Hermione looked at Ron and saw that he had stopped kissing Lavender and was peering at Hermione with a strange expression on his face. She also noticed that his ears were still as red as when Ginny had shouted at him. 

"Come up for air, have you, Ron?" said Hermione as she got up from the table. She said this in a casual tone, but it had a slight edge to it. 

Ron continued to stare at her like that as she walked away with McLaggen, with a little smile on her face. 

**_He's already jealous and nothing's even happened yet!_** she thought, excitedly. 

She and Mclaggen stopped at the entrance of the Great Hall. She turned to face him. 

"What?" he grunted. He had taken a roll from the breakfast table and he was now chewing at with his mouth wide open. Hermione could not believe that she was actually going to do this, but another look at Ron and Lavender pushed her forward.

"Errm...Cormac, I don't know if you know, but Professor Slughorn is having a little Christmas party in a few days." 

"Yeah, I know," he said. This response was very incoherent, as Mclaggen was talking with his mouth wide open, but also full of bread. Hermione wondered how he managed to do that without any of the bread falling out. She cleared her throat and tried not to look at his mouth. 

"Well, I was just wondering if you'd like to go with me?" she said, crossing her fingers, although she didn't know why. She would probably count herself lucky if he didn't want to go. 

Mclaggen looked as though he was seriously considering this. He was staring up at the ceiling. But then, he started to look Hermione up and down, as if examining her. Hermione frowned. She was a girl, not some specimen of Red Cap that had to be stared at! 

"OK," he said, casually. Hermione almost wished she could takeit back now, but she wasn'tquite rude enough. She just sighed and went back up to Gryffindor Tower and Mclaggen went back to the breakfast table. 

When she got to the Fat Lady's portrait, shesaw Dean and Ginny hugging. She didn't know whether she should go around them and give the Fat Lady the password, or to simply wait till they were finished hugging. But she didn't have to decide. Once she'd gotten close enough for them to see her, they had pulled apart anyway. Ginny turned around and saw Hermione. 

"Hi," she said toHermione. "Are you OK?" 

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, automatically. This seemed to be a very popular question to ask Hermione lately. She sighed as they went through the portrait hole. 

"Ginny, you won't believe what I just did." 

Hermione gave Ginny a full blow-by-blow account on what happened with Mclaggen. Ginny looked positively horrified.

"Mclaggen?" she asked, when Hermione had finished. "Wow, Hermione, you must really like Ron! Mclaggen? You poor thing!"

"Yes, well, it was either him or Malfoy."

"Oh, yes, well when you put it that way Mclaggen seems much more bearable."

"Exactly." 

"Hermione, I think it's really good that you're doing this though. Admittedly, Mclaggen is a bit of a wart, but you're fighting for want, and that's really great. Good luck."

"Thank you so much, Ginny. I would never even have attempted this if it weren't for you."

"It's no problem."

The two girls hug. 

"Have you made up with Dean then?" Hermione asked. 

"Yeah," said Ginny, almost reluctantly. "I felt bad. I feel even worse that I'm still going out with him though."

"Why don't you just break it off with him then?" 

"Because, everytime I'm about to, he says something really sweet or funny, and then I just can't. I keep telling myself that if I just give it time, then maybe I will fall for him. I mean, he's really nice and he's pretty hot as well, and funny...but I just don't feel it. But if I give it time maybe I will."

"Ginny, stop trying to force yourself. You love Harry, if you try and make yourself fall for someone else, it will just make it more complicated and you don't need that. Dean is nice, yes, but he's not Harry. He's not the person you love."

There was a long pause. Then finally, Ginny said:

"You're absolutely right. I can't be with Dean. Somehow, I'll have to muster up the courage to end it with him."

"Yes, you will," Hermione agreed. 

"Thank you, Hermione."

And with that, the two girls hugged once more, and walked up the stairs to get they're books ready for class.


	5. Love Without Words

Hermione sat in Arithmancy and let the sound of Professor Vector's soothing voice wash over her. This was probably the first time Hermione had ceased to pay attention in **_any_** lesson, let alone in Arithmancy, which she usually thought to be a fascinating subject. She was thinking about Ron and what she had done just to make him the tiniest bit jealous. She was also thinking about something new. She had a sneaky suspicion that Harry had feelings for Ginny. This was quite good for Ginny, but she couldn't tell her until she was absolutely positive that that was the case. Anyway, her own love life was complicated enough without getting involved in other people's as well.

Just then, the bell rang, signalling the end of class. She had Transfiguration next. Professor McGonagall had assigned them groups to experiment with Human Transfiguration and she was with Ron and Harry, as per usual. She had a feeling that it was going to be very awkward with her and Ron. Oh well, she would just have to try and get through it.

She went through one of the very long corridors leading to the Transfiguration classroom. On the way, she met Harry, Ron and Seamus, who had just come from Gryffindor Tower for a study period. Harry and Seamus smiled as they caught sight of Hermione, and Ron avoided her eye, as she knew he would.

"Hi," she said to Harry.

"Hey," he said. "How was Arithmancy?"

"It was OK."

The four of them walked on through the long, winding corridor and on their way, lots of students from different classrooms milling out of their classrooms, and making their way to their next classes.

Ginny was walking towards them, talking to Luna Lovegood. Harry was a bit ahead of Seamus, Hermione and Ron, and when Ginny saw Harry, smiled.

"Hi Harry," she said casually, but brightly at the same time. "Hey, could I talk to you for one moment, do you think?"

Harry look very surprised, and Hermione noticed that he started to fidget. It was then she noticed that her suspicions about Harry's feelings for Ginny were correct. Harry would always fidget like that whenever Cho was around, even when he started going out with her. Hermione noticed that it was a nervous habit because he seemed to do it right before Quidditch matches as well, particularly the ones against Slytherin.

"Errm.." Harry said.

Ron was frowning.

"What do you need to talk to Harry for?" he asked, puzzled.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ginny said, giving a sarcastic laugh. "I don't think it's any of your business, Ron."

It looked like Ron was about to argue, but just then they all heard a loud, shrill voice.

"Hi Harry!"

Before she could turn around and see who the voice belonged to, Hermione felt someone run into her shoulder. It was such a force, and it came as such a surprise, that Hermione toppled and slipped a little bit. Her shoes didn't have very much grip, and what only should have been a tiny stumble, nearly turned into a great fall. It would have been a very embarassing experience, if Ron hadn't caught her. Ron was so surprised at what had happened in the last five seconds, that he let go of Hermione, who nerly fell anyway, but she righted herself just in time.

When Ron and Hermione, looked up to see who had caused them such an ordeal, they saw Romilda Vane, completely blocking Ginny's view, leaning against the wall, smiling up at Harry and playing with her hair. Ginny was looking at her with her arms folded and one eyebrow raised.

"Was she really that desperate to talk to Harry?" Ron muttered, under his breath.

Hermione looked at him and chuckled. He smiled at her. Neither of them stopped looking. This was the first time they had made eye-contact in so long, and it Hermione feel warm inside. But Hermione abruptly turned around again. She didn't want to get her hopes up.

**_It's just a look_**, she thought. **_It may mean something to you, but to him it's just a look. _**

But little did Hermione know, how much it hurt Ron to look at her like that and not be able to hold her in his arms.

Romilda Vane was laughing away at Harry and batting her eyelashes. She looked delighted. There was only one word to describe how Harry looked: frightened.

"Errm, that's great, Romilda," he said, his voice unenthusiastic and flat. "But, I'm really late for-"

"So, who are you taking to Professor Slughorn's Christmas party?" Romilda interrupted, as if Harry hadn't even spoken.

"Errm, I haven't really thought about it," he said. " Look, I really have to be getting to-"

"Well, you know, I was thinking-"

"Harry!" Ron shouted, all of a sudden. "We really have to be going, McGonagall will kill us!"

"You're right," Harry agreed, quickly. "Sorry, Romilda, we really have to go, well see you, bye."

And with that, Harry, Ron, Seamus, Hermione and even Luna and Ginny, walked away from Romilda as quickly as possible without looking too rude. As soon as Romilda was out of earshot, Seamus burst out laughing. His laugh was infectious. Five seconds later, everyone was laughing. Everyone that is, except for Luna. She simply said:

"That was Romilda Vane."

"Well, Merlin!" exclaimed Ron, brightly. "Look at that, it was!"

"Thanks mate," said Harry to Ron. "That was close."

"No problem," said Ron. "But, Harry, you can't see her until you get someone to go to this party with, otherwise she'll practically force you to take her, she will."

"I know," Harry said, quietly.

"Well, we really should go now," said Seamus. "We're already five minutes late."

Harry hung back a tiny bit and waited for Hermione, Ron and Seamus to go a tiny bit forward. Then, he turned to Ginny.

"Ginny, what did you need to talk to me about?" he asked.

**_She's so beautiful_**, he thought. **_She doesn't even have to try. _**

Ginny looked at Harry for a minute. Those bright green eyes made her go weak at the knees.

"You know what," she said, finally. "It doesn't matter."

"No, tell me," Harry urged her. He had to keep her here, these moments alone with her were heaven.

"No, it's not important," she insisted.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Ginny quickly said:

"I'd better go and look for Luna, looks like she's wandered off."

And with that, she walked away.

Harry stood there for a moment, and then, with a sigh, he turned around and walked towards the Transfiguration classroom.

When he got there, he mumbled a quick apology to Professor McGonagall and then stood there for ten minutes while she shouted at him. She was saying things like "punctuality" and "just not good enough". Harry didn't care one bit. All his energy and emotion was put into caring about one person. Ginny.

When, he eventually sat down next to Hermione, she tried to comfort him.

"Don't worry," she said, soothingly. "She shouted at all of us too."

Harry wished she could tell her why Professor McGonagall's rant was the least of his worries, and Hermione wished that she could tell him that she knew what was really on his mind.

At last the bell rang for the end of the lesson. The whole class trooped out to go to lunch, but Hermione hurried ahead of everyone, coverng her face. She left half her books behind in the process. Harry's mind had still been on Ginny throughout the whole lesson, but he faintly remembered that Hermione had laughed at Ron cruelly and Ron had done an equally cruel imitation of Hermione putting her hand up to answer a question. Harry collected the books that Hermione had left behind and decided that he had better go and look for her.

Harry walked into the Gryffindor common room and sat on the armchair nearest the fire. He feeling a little dazed. He had done a little more than find Hermione. He had asked Luna to go to Slughorn's party with him. It was a bit if a random choice, but it was a spur of the moment thing and Luna was his friend, he supposed. It was a lot better than going with Romilda Vane.

But it wasn't just this that was making him feel slightly light-headed. Hermione was going to the party with Mclaggen. Oh dear, Harry suspected that the worst of this Ron/Hermione fight had not come yet. Harry couldn't side with either of them, because they were both his best friends, but he felt that Ron was in the wrong. Hermione was the one being hurt, and Ron was the one hurting her, and Harry wasn't fooled by Ron pretending to be unaware of this. He knew perfectly well how hurt Hermione was. He was just trying to get back at her for going out with Krum.

Just then, Parvati Patil walked through the portrait hole. She came and sat in the armchair opposite Harry.

"Hi," she said. "You wouldn't believe what's happening down there, it's unreal."

Harry sighed. "What's happening now?" he asked.

"Ron and Hermione are talking about Lavender really loudly to make the other one jealous."

"I wish those two would just sort themselves out," Harry muttered. I'm sick of being piggy in the middle."

"That's exactly how I feel about Hermione and Lavender!" Parvati exclaimed. "I can't side with Lavender because, even though she's my best friend, I know that she's in the wrong, but I can't side with Hermione because Lavender will be upset. But I suppose it's harder for you because Ron and Hermione are both your best friends."

"Yeah, for now," said Harry. "I don't know how much longer I can put up with this."

They both remained silent for a minute. Then, Parvati spoke again:

"So, Padma says that Luna is really excited about the party."

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, she's planning what she's going to wear."

An anxious expression creeped onto Harry's face. Parvati laughed.

"Don't worry!" she said. "Ginny's helping her with that. She should look nice."

The creature in Harry's chest purred at the sound of Ginny's name.

"Ginny is so lucky that her love life isn't chaotic," said Parvati. "I mean, she has a boyfriend."

"Hmm," Harry grunted, clenching his fists.

Just then, Parvati and Harry heard raised voices outside the portrait hole. They expected it to be Ron and Hermione, or Hermione and Lavender. But when the portrait hole swung forwards, it revealed Dean and Ginny. They walked in, Ginny still yelling. Her face was red, yet again.

"Just don't pretend you know everything about me, Dean," she shouted. "because you don't! And for the fiftieth time, don't open the portrait door for me; I AM QUITE CAPABLE OF DOING IT MYSELF!!

And with that, Ginny ran up the girls' staircase. Dean turned to face Parvati and Harry, looking positively bewildered.

"What happened?" Parvati asked.

"I just said that I knew she liked the Weird Sisters more than the Chudley Cannons, so would she like to come to the Weird Sisters concert with me instead of the Chudley Cannons match. And then she started yelling at me because I thought that I knew her better than she knows herself, or something. And then I tried to help her through the portrait hole and she got even angrier. I don't know what it is, but it's like every little thing I do seems to make her angry."

Parvati looked puzzled. Girls didn't ordinarily act like that, but then again Ginny wasn't really an ordinary girl. Harry couldn't help being pleased that Ginny and Dean had had a fight. But he pretended to be concerned.

"I think you should just give her some space for a few days," he put in, quickly.

"Do you think?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, definitely," said Harry. "She's probably just not in the mood, she'll come around."

**_I hope she won't_**, Harry thought to himself while croosing his fingers behind his back.

"You're probably right, Harry," said Dean. "I'll do that. Thanks."

"No problem."

"Anyway," said Dean, starting towards the boys' staircase. "Me and Ginny's argument is nothing compared to Ron's and Seamus's downstairs. I think they're coming now."

Sure enough, Harry and Parvati could hear raised voices outside the portrait hole again. But these voices were about ten times louder.

When the portrait hole swung forwards, and Ron and Seamus entered the common room, bellowing at each other, both red in the face. They were both shouting so loudly, and at the same time, that it was hard for Parvati and Harry to make out what they were saying. But they got the general idea of the argument. Well, the word argument was a bit of an understatement.

"...CAN'T **_BELIEVE _**YOU WOULD..." Seamus yelled.

"...THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE PLAYING..." Ron bellowed.

"...I MEAN, IT'S LAVENDER...YOU KNOW SHE'S..."

"OFF LIMITS! IT'S A FREE..."

"...DO YOU NOT CARE..."

"...DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"

"...YOU'RE HURTING SO MANY..."

"...ALL I DID WAS...WHY DON'T YOU JUST..."

"...REALISE WHAT YOU'RE DOING TO..."

"...HERMIONE! WHAT'S SHE GOT TO..."

"...HURTING HER SO MUCH!"

"... HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING ILLEGAL!"

"...HURTING HER!! SHE CARES ABOUT..."

"...DIDN'T ASK HER TO..."

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO..."

"...STAY OUT OF IT, SEAMUS!"

Ron ran up the boys' staircase. Harry had never seen Seamus this angry.

"DON'T YOU DARE RUN AWAY FROM ME, RON WEASLEY!" he yelled after him. "I'M NOWHERE NEAR FINISHED WITH YOU!"

Seamus ran after him up the boys's staircase and Harry turned to face Parvati.

"Can I sleep in the your dormitory?" he asked. Parvati laughed.

"You don't know how tense it is in my dormitory!" she laughed. "It's awful!"

"I'd rather stay there than up there!" Harry pointed to his dormitory upstairs. Parvati giggled.

"No, you'd better go up there and make sure that Seamus and Ron don't kill each other!"

"Oh, joy," Harry muttered, getting up. He walked up the boys' staircase.

When he got to his dormitory, it seemed like Seamus and Ron had calmed down a little, but they were still arguing quite fiercely.

"You don't even like her!" Seamus yelled at Ron. "You don't feel anything for her the way I do."

"Well, she seems to like me," said Ron. "So she's not exactly pining for you."

There was silence in the dormitory. Ron had just crossed the line.

Harry stood by the door, not knowing what to do. Seamus now looked hurt, and Ron looked like he regretted what he had just said.

"I can't believe that Lavender is going out with scum like you!" Seamus shouted at Ron. "You don't care about her, or me, or Hermione. You don't care about anybody but yourself!"

Seamus made to walk out, but something Ron said stopped him.

"Well, you're wrong about that. I do care about Hermione. More than you know."

Seamus froze, then walked out a few seconds later.

Harry sighed. He knew that this wasn't the end. It was barely the beginning.


	6. Tangled Webs

Ron, Harry and Dean were motionless. None of them moved or spoke. Harry sighed quietly and closed his eyes. He was definitely sleeping in the girls dormitory tonight. Ron was the first to move. He cleared his throat and began putting his books away. This was a sure sign that Ron was avoiding Harry and Dean's eye, because Ron was the messiest and most disorganised person in their dormitory and he**_ never _**put his books away. He usually just left them scattered on his bed or lying around on the floor.

Just then, Neville entered the dormitory.

"Hello, everyone!" he said, jauntily, tripping over the doormat.

Harry laughed. "Hi, Neville," he said.

"Hey, Neville," Dean said, raising his eyebrows.

"So, what's going on?" Neville asked, sitting on the edge of his bed. He had a very cheerful expression on his face, which fell as soon as he saw Ron's face, which was still red.

"What happened, Ron?" Neville asked, cautiously.

"It doesn't matter, Neville!" Ron said, in a harsh tone. Harry got a bit annoyed then. It wasn't Neville's fault, Ron didn't have to take it out on him. But he knew better than to contradict Ron when he was in this kind of mood.

Neville looked crestfallen. Harry gave him a don't-worry-about-it look. He definitely did not want to stay here. He wanted to talk to someone who was sane. Maybe, if he went down to the common room he'd find Parvati again.

When he got there, Parvati wasn't there anymore. The common room was completely empty.

**_Oh well, _**Harry thought. **_Better being a loner than being up there. _**He sat down in the armchair nearest the fire, thinking about life at Hogwarts without this chaos. He heard someone come down from the girls' staircase, and he peered around. It was Ginny. It felt like his heart was suddenly beating a thousand times faster than normal. How could she not hear it?

"Oh, hi Harry," she said, quietly. Her voice sounded very snuffly, as if she had a cold. And her eyes were red too. Ginny wanted so much to run back upstairs, but something was making her stay.

"Hi," Harry said. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Ginny, but it was very obvious that she wasn't.

"No, you're not," Harry said, tentatively. "You've been crying."

**_Oh no_**, he thought suddenly. **_She doesn't like it when people tell her how she feels. Oh great, she's going to shout at me like she shouted at Dean. _**

Harry prepared himself for a huge rant. But, funnily enough, Ginny didn't shout at him. She didn't get angry in the slightest.

"OK," she said, quietly. "I'm not. But it's a really complicated situation.

**_A complicated situation that involves you_**, she thought.

Harry laughed slightly.

"Ginny, you don't get much more complicated than me." She laughed.

"That is true," she said, slowly. "But I'd really rather not talk about it."

"OK, fair enough," he said, turning around to go and sit down.

"Because," Ginny continued. Harry turned back around to face her. "you're the one person who I can't tell, but the one person who I want to the most."

And with that, she climbed back up the girls' staircase, leaving Harry extremely confused.

**_What the hell was that all about? _**he thought. **_Was that a good thing for me, or a bad thing? _**

While Harry went to sit down and think about this, Hermione came into the common room.

"Hi, Harry," she said, and went to sit down opposite him. She saw the brooding expression on his face and sighed.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Ginny just told me something really weird," Harry said, slowly.

**_Oh dear_**, Hermione thought. **_What on earth has that girl done now?_**

"What?" she asked in a would-be casual tone.

Harry told her how he had seen Ginny looking very upset and what she had told him. Hermione sighed.

"Oh," she said.

"Isn't that really weird?" asked Harry.

"Hmm," Hermione said, avoiding Harry's eye. Harry looked at her suspiciously. Then, a though occurred to him.

"You know what she was talking about!" he said, suddenly.

"No, I don't!" Hermione insisted, turning pink. Lying had never been Hermione's strong point.

"Yes, you do! I know your're lying, Hermione!"

"OK, maybe I do, but that doesn't mean I'm going to tell you."

"Hermione!" Harry said, in an exasperated voice.

"It's not my place to tell, Harry! It doesn't even matter."

"Fine," Harry said, reluctantly. "So, did you hear about Dean and Ginny's fight?"

"No!" said Hermione, shocked.

"Or Ron's and Seamus's?"

"No!" she said, even more shocked. "My goodness, you go to the library for half an hour and you miss everything!"

"Yes, well," Harry said. "Dean and Ginny had a fight basically over a Weird Sisters concert and Dean helping through the portrait hole."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "And what about Ron and Seamus's fight?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, their's was pretty bad."

"What happened?"

"Errmm..." Harry debated whether or not to tell Hermione **_everything _**that happened in the fight. In the end he decided that Hermione would probably find out through someone else. He wasn't really comfortable talking about this kind of situation.

"Just a fight about Lavender basically," he concluded.

"Oh, Hermione said, looking slightly disappointed.

Harry decided that he would change the subject slightly.

"So," he said. "Are you really going to Slughorn's party with Mclaggen?"

"Yes, I am," Hermione said.

"Oh right," Harry said. Then he asked the obvious question. "Why?"

"Well," Hermione began. "He's quite...nice really. If you look beyond his awful table manners, and his slight discomposure, and perhaps the way he looks..."

"In other words, he's a prat." Harry finished.

"But, you never know," Hermione said. "He might be different than what he appears to be."

"Doubt it," Harry said.

"Excited about going with Luna?"

"I suppose."

Harry and Hermione sat there talking about Luna and the party and just about everything else for about an hour and a half, then Hermione looked at her watch.

"It's nine o'clock," she said. "I'm going to go and pick out what to wear for the party tomorrow, then I'm going to go to bed."

"No!" Harry exclaimed, quickly. "Don't leave me! Then I'll have to go up there!" He pointed upstairs towards his dormitory.

Hermione looked puzzled. "What's wrong with going up there?" she asked.

"It's horrible. Ron and Seamus are in bad moods and no one is speaking!"

"Aren't Dean and Neville in your dormitory?"

"Yes, but Ron snapped at Neville, so both of them are too scared to say anything!"

"So, why don't the three of you just talk amongst yourselves?"

Harry thought about this. "About what?"

"Oh, honestly Harry!" Hermione said, exasperatingly. "I am not going to have this conversation with you, stop being such a baby!"

"Alright, fine!" Harry said, slightly hurt at being called a baby. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Hermione said and walked up the girls' staircase.

When she walked into her dormitory, the only person in there was Parvati, who was sitting on her bed, replaiting her hair.

"Hi," Hermione said to her.

"Hi, Hermione," Parvati said. "Where have you been?"

"Talking to Harry in the common room," Hermione answered, as she put her books on her bed. She went to sit on Parvati's bed.

"Have you been up here by yourself since dinner?" Hermione asked.

"No," said Parvati, still plaiting. "I talked to Harry down in the common room for a bit as well. But then, Seamus and Ron came in having their argument and then they continued it up in their dormitory. So, Harry went to try and pacify them, and then I came up here. That was about two hours ago."

"So you've been up here by yourself for two hours?"

"Well, no, not really. Lavender came up here about an hour ago, and she stayed for about fifteen minutes."

"Oh right," Hermione said. She marveled at how Parvati remembered such trivial things in such detail. "So, where is Lavender? It's quarter past nine. Where did she go?"

"She said she was going to go and look for Seamus."

"Seamus?"

"Yeah, she heard about his and Ron's fight."

"Oh right."

"So, how do you feel?"

Hermione looked perplexed.

"Errm...fine," she said.

"Did you not hear about the fight?"

"Yeah, I did. They were fighting over Lavender. Great."

"Did you hear about what Ron said at the end?"

"Well, no. Harry didn't really tell me the details."

"Not even what Ron said about you?"

"Me?"

"Yes." Parvati told Hermione what Seamus had said about Ron not caring about anyone but himself, and what Ron's response had been.

Hermione was speechless.

"I didn't know about this part of the fight either," Parvati went on. "But Lavender heard about it, and she told me."

"I can't think about this right now," Hermione said, in a strained voice, and walked over to her bed. Before she could even sit down on it, she changed her mind. She was going to talk to Ginny. She turned around and bolted out of the dormitory.

She walked down the corridor to Ginny's dormitory and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" called and extremely cheery voice. Hermione walked in. Ginny shared a dormitory with three other girls called Katharine Nolan, Jennifer Smith and Ella Thompson. hermione knew for a fact that Ginny hated all of them apart from Katharine Nolan, who was, apparantly, very nice. Ginny was just lying on her bed staring up at the ceiling and chewing her fingernails. Katharine was sitting on her bed and reading a book. Ella and Jennifer were sitting on Jennifer's bed, gossiping and laughing loudly. Ella was also styling her long blonde hair with her wand into different hairstyles and asking Jennifer's opinion on each one.

"Hi," Hermione said, trying to be polite.

"Hi!" Ella said in a cheery voice. Evidently, Ella was the one who had told Hermione to come in. Jennifer completely ignored Hermione's greeting and just inspected her perfectly manicured nails.

"Hello," said Katharine, peering over her book. Hermione smiled at her. She walked over to Ginny's bed and sat down beside her.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked her.

"Not bad," Ginny answered, still staring up at the ceiling.

"I heard about your fight with Dean."

"Hmm," Ginny sighed. "I really don't think I can take much more of this Hermione. It's just so hard to pluck up the courage. It just seems so much easier for me to get angry at him than break up with him."

"I know." In the background, Jennifer and Ella laughed very loudly at something that Jennifer had said. Hermione giggled slightly.

"I can see why you don't spend much time here," she said quietly.

"They're awful!"

"Do they always act like this?"

"Every single bloody night," Ginny muttered slowly, under her breath.

"So, Harry told me about what you said to him," said Hermione.

Finally, Ginny looked at Hermione properly.

"Gin," Hermione said, exasperatingly.

"I had a momentary lapse in thought," Ginny insisted. "I just felt like I had to tell him something. Even if it wasn't the whole thing."

"But do you feel better now?"

"Not really. Because I still want to tell him more."

"So, why don't you?"

"That's not really an option."

"So, what're you going to do about Dean?"

"I've decided that I'm going to break up with him after the next Quidditch match against Hufflepuff."

"Why after the Quidditch match?"

"Because it's this weekend! I can't break up with him right before a Quidditch match! It'll put him of his playing!"

"If you say so," Hermione sighed.

"I heard about Ron and Seamus's fight," Ginny said, quietly.

"The whole thing?"

"Yeah. I told you Ron feels the same way."

"But that's not enough. He's not doing anything about it. Why is he with Lavender anyway?"

Ginny sighed. "He's trying to get you back for going out with Krum," she said, simply.

"What?" Hermione asked, disbelievingly. "But...that was two years ago!"

"Trust me. Ron isn't one who forgets."

"But that's ridiculous!"

"Ron **_is _**ridiculous."

"So, what do I do now?"

"Continue the thing with Mclaggen! This is really good, Hermione! This shows that it's working!"

"Really?"

"Absolutely. Ron just admitted his feelings about you, sort of."

"I suppose."

"So, how's Seamus?"

"I don't know. I haven't even seen him since dinner. Lavender went to look for him. "

"Oh right. I feel so sorry for him."

"Me too."

Hermione and Ginny sat talking for another fifteen minutes, and then Hermione decided that she would go to bed.

"I haven't figured out what I'm going to wear for the party yet," Hermione said, wearily.

"I'll help you with that if you want," Ginny offered. "I'm already helping Luna."

"Won't that already take up a lot of your time?"

Ginny laughed. "No, it's fine. I'll help you tomorrow afternoon after lunch."

"Are you sure? How are you going to figure out what you're going to wear if you're helping both me and Luna?"

"I've already mentally figured out what I'm going to wear."

"OK, well thank you so much"

"It's no problem," Ginny said. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye." Hermione gave Ginny a hug and then departed out of her dormitory.

When she got to her own dormitory, she saw Lavender sitting on the edge of Parvati's bed, in tears. Hermione did not know what to do. She was still very angry with Lavender; the pain had not gone away. But it was hard for Hermione to see someone this upset and not sympathize.

"Lavender, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh, like you care!" Lavender replied in a cutting voice. Hermione was surprised. She didn't even have to talk to Lavender, but she was just trying to be nice.

"OK, fine! If you're going to be like that, I won't bother in future!" Hermione replied, scathingly, walking over to her own bed.

"Fine, you really want to know!?" Lavender shouted, getting up from Parvati's bed and facing Hermione.

"Well, no not particularly anymore!"

"Well, I'm going to tell you anyway! Seamus won't talk to me!"

"Good! So now you know what it feels like when the person you care about the most refuses to speak to you!"

"But this is different, Hermione! He won't even look at me!"

"Oh right! So you just spent about three hours with him both of you staring into space, did you?"

"No! We spent three hours talking and then I said something stupid, something that I didn't even mean, and now he won't talk to me!"

"Well maybe he would talk to you if you actually considered anyone else's feelings but yours for once in your life!"

"I do consider other people's feelings!"

"Have you considered my feelings? Seamus's feelings? No! No you haven't!"

"Actually I have! I have cried myself to sleep every night since going out with Ron because I'm thinking about how much I'm hurting you two!"

"I don't believe a word of that!"

"Why!?"

"Because, Lavender, if you were really concerned about how I felt, you wouldn't kiss the guy that I happen to be in love with RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!"

"He starts that, not me! None of that is done on purpose!"

"WELL, THAT DOESN'T CHANGE ANYTHING! YOU'RE STILL HURTING ME!"

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST ACCEPT THE FACT THAT RON IS GOING OUT WITH ME NOW, SO HE OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T LOVE YOU SO JUST STOP BEING PATHETIC!!"

There was absolute silence in the dormitory. Then, Lavender gasped and put her hand over her mouth, as if that would take back the horrible thing she had just said. Tears started streaming down Hermione's face.

"Hermione, I am so sorry!" she said, sobbing. "I didn't mean it to sound like that!"

"So how did you mean it to sound!?" Hermione said, in a cutting voice.

"Hermione!" Lavender made to touch her arm, but Hermione snatched it away.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled. "Don't talk to me! I don't even want to look at you right now!"

Hermione ran past Lavender and out of the dormitory. She ran down the the girls' staircase. She didn't even know where she was going, she just knew she had to get out, out of her dormitory, out of Gryffindor.

She was running out of the Fat Lady's portrait hole and she wasn't looking where she was going. She ran straight into Seamus who was coming up the stairs as she was going down. Hermione felt a searing pain hit her shoulder with the force. She gasped, grabbed her shoulder and sank down onto the ground. She refused to look at Seamus, maybe after a while he'd go away. But instead, he crouched down beside her.

"Hermione?" he said, tentatively. "What happened?"

**_What's wrong with me? I can tell Seamus. He's probably the one person who would understand the most. _**

"Seriously, Hermione, tell me. What's the matter?"

So, Hermione, betweeen sobs, told Seamus everything that had happened upstairs with Lavender. After she had finished, there was a small silence, where only Seamus's haevy breathing could be heard.

"And I don't know what to do," Hermione sobbed, covering her face with her hands, "because-because maybe she's..."

"Hermione," Semaus grabbed her wrists, pulled them away from her face and forced her to look him in the eye. Then he said in a steady voice:

"Lavender is not right. This is just something that she wishes was true. Ron does love you. He's just in denial and being a stupid prat. Please, just remember that."

Hermione opened her mouth and tried to say something, but no words came out. She cleared her throat, and then she finally managed to say:

"OK, thanks Seamus." Seamus gave her a small smile and then a hug. Then he and Hermione made they're way back to Gryffindor Tower and Hermione went up the girls' staircase and Seamus went up the boys', as they both went to face people that they did not want to be around.


	7. Collision

Hello everybody! Chapter 7, here for you! Hope you enjoy! I'm a bit nervous about updating this but, here goes. I am going to dedicate this chapter to one of my most awesome and dearest friends, Miriamimus! Miriamimus, Tangled Up, Collision...ring any bells!? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Please R&R! Hannah Longbottom xx

* * *

Hermione didn't sleep at all that night. She lay awake, tossing and turning, and staring up at the dark ceiling. She wondered how the tension was in the boys' dormitory. Hermione sighed. Ron was probably asleep right now, snoring loudly. But little did she know that Ron was as wide awake as she was, thinking.

In fact, the only one who got a proper night's sleep in that dormitory was Neville. Ron and Seamus were awake all night, and Harry and Dean were up half the night, both thinking about Ginny.

But it was Ron that was in more confusion. **_What am I going to do about Lavender? _**he kept thinking. **_And Hermione? I mean, I love her. And yet I can't even talk to her. And Lavender's hurt as well now. What am I going to do? _**

This situation was much harder for Ron because he didn't have a male equivalent of Ginny to talk to because he knew that Harry didn't feel comfortable talking about this sort of thing with Ron. Harry wasn't really one for showing his feelings. Perhaps it was because he was so used to hiding all his feelings from the Dursleys for eleven years. For example, Ron only knew about Harry's feelings for Cho when Hermione told him. Hermione was good at sensing these kind of things.

The next morning, Seamus, Dean, Neville and Harry sat there eating breakfast and not speaking.

**_How long is it going to be like this? _**Harry thought to himself. Seamus was staring down at his bowl of cereal, which is what he seemed to do every morning. Harry was playing around with his bacon, Dean was nobbling at a piece of toast and Neville was wholfing down his kippers and sausages just as messily as he always did. Ron and Hermione were nowhere to be seen. Harry sighed and decided that there was no point in staying at the breakfast table if he had no appetite.

On the way out of the Great Hall, Harry ran into Ginny. His heart started beating twice as fast again.

"Hi, Harry," Ginny said.

"Hi Ginny, are you feeling better?"

"Hmm, not bad."

Then she walked past him and into the Great Hall. Harry saw her go and sit beside Dean and hold his hand.

**_She must be apologizing for yesterday_**, he thought to himself. He sighed and made his way back to Gryffindor Tower. Thank goodness it was Saturday. His mind really couldn't concentrate on lessons today.

"Dilligrout," Harry said to the Fat Lady.

"Same to you, dear!" she said.

When Harry walked into the Gryffindor common room, he ran into Romilda Vane as she was climbing down the girls' staircase.

"Hi Harry!" she screeched, running towards Harry as if her life depended on it.

"Hi Romilda," he said unenthusiastically.

"So how are you?"

"Ermm..not bad. Have you seen Hermione anywhere?"

"Oh," she said, looking disappointed. "No, I haven't seen her. You should check the library."

Harry frowned. He didn't know whether this was meant to be a spiteful, sarcatic comment or not. Judging by the look on Romilda's face, it was. But also a very good point. He hadn't checked the library.

**_That should've been the first place for me to check_**, he thought.

"So," said Romilda, suddenly smiling quite scarily. "Are you going with anyone to Professor Slughorn's party, or are you still flying solo?"

"Actually, I'm going with Luna."

"Loony Lovegood?"

"Errm...yeah."

"Oh right. Well, see you round Harry."

Harry looked around at her as she made her way through the portrait hole, and then shuddered. He was glad that he had taken Ron's advice and asked someone quickly before Romilda could force herself onto him.

Just then, Seamus walked through the portrait hole. He saw Harry and smiled. Just then, Harry realised that he and Seamus hadn't really spoken for a long time. He wondered why that was.

"Hi, Seamus," he said.

"Hey, Harry. Listen I need to talk to you."

"Errm...yeah, OK."

"Did you hear about Lavender and Hermione's fight last night?" Seamus asked.

Harry sighed. "How many fights are going to go on around here?" he wondered, aloud.

"Sorry, Harry," Seamus said, biting his lip. He really did look sorry.

"This must all be really hard for you," he went on. "You know, with Ron and Hermione being your best friends and all. But I just want to tell you, Hermione's really hurt."

"Why? What happened?"

Seamus told Harry all that Hermione had told him the previous night about her fight with Lavender. Harry was speechless. Lavender always seemed so nice. A bit annoying, but nice.

"So, do you know where Hermione is now?"

"No, I haven't seen her since last night."

"OK, thanks Seamus. I'm going to go and look for her."

And with that, Harry ran out of the portrait hole and all the way to the library. On the way in, he saw Terry Boot walking out with a load of books. He thought it might be quicker to ask Terry, rather than search all over the library for her.

"Hi, Terry," Harry said, panting. "Have you seen Hermione anywhere in there?"

"No," Terry replied. "I saw her by the lake earlier."

"By the lake?"

"Yeah. She looked really miserable."

"How long ago did you see her?"

"About half an hour ago."

So, Harry turned around and ran all the way to the huge lake that lay in the middle of Hogwarts. When he got there, at first he couldn't see Hermione. He ran further on and then he saw her. Crouched right at the very edge of the lake, hugging her knees to her chest and letting her hair blow freely in the wind. Harry walked over to her. He was right behind her now, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Hermione?" he said, gently. She peered around. Her eyes were swollen and red.

"Oh, hi Harry," she said, in a quiet voice.

Harry crouched down beside her. "Seamus told me about your fight with Lavender. I'm really sorry."

"It's OK. Well, no, it's not. But it will be. Hopefully."

"How long have you been down here?"

"Well, I came down at six."

Harry looked at his watch. It was now nine o' clock. He sighed as Hermione continued to stare at the ripples appearing in the water.

"Hermione, it's going to be OK. I mean it's Ron, he'll come around. Come here." Harry suddenly stretched his arms out open wide and Hermione gave him a hug.

"So, how have you been?" she asked him.

"Not bad. Worried about our next Quidditch match though."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Of course. Quidditch. Any other problems?"

Harry thought about telling her how he felt about Ginny, but then he felt that it was probably best to keep that to himself.

"Nope. No other problems. Do you want to go back up to Gryffindor now?"

Hermione sighed. "Yeah, I suppose."

Harry and Hermione made they're way back up to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione did not know what she was going to do about Ron. Should she just ignore what Ron said and pretend that she never heard about it? Or should she confront him and make him nervous? She sighed heavily. Why was this all so complicated?

She was so deep in thought that she went up the girls' staircase without even saying goodbye to Harry. When she got into her dormitory, she saw Lavender on her bed chewing her nails anxiously. As soon as she saw Hermione, she made to get up from her bed. But as soon as Hermione realised what she was going to do, she ran to her bed and the drew the hangings all the way around her four-poster bed.

She stayed hidden by her hangings for quite a while. She looked at her watch and it was quarter to twelve. She told Ginny that she would meet her in her dormitory at three o' clock. She had to stay here for over three hours in this awkward silence with Parvati. After two hours of reading by wandlight, a thought occured to Hermione.

**_Well, maybe I can just go upstairs and talk to Harry then_**, she thought. **_But what about Ron? I haven't seen him since dinner last night. It might be awkward. _**

But, Hermione made a decision. No matter what they're lack in conversation was lately, Ron was still her best friend. She would have to face him sooner or later. She drew back the hangings around her bed, got up and walked briskly to the boys' dormitory.

She walked in and, incidentally, Ron was the first person she saw when she walked in the door. She smiled at him, and he went red and smiled back. Hermione's heart lit up. **_He smiled back. _**And then, for the second time in two days, Ron and Hermione's eyes met. The deep brown met with the electric blue, and it was as though they were in they're own little world, for once. But then, a trip from Neville brought them back to reality, and they both turned red.

"Hi Harry," Hermione said, as she turned around and face Harry.

"Hi Hermione," he said in surprise. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, just a bit bored. It's really awkward between me and Lavender."

"Oh, right."

Hermione looked around the room. "Where's everyone else?" she asked. It was only Ron, Harry and Neville in the room.

"Well," Neville began. "Dean's gone somewhere with Ginny (Harry suddenly became extremely interested in the pattern of the capret) and Seamus is on a walk somehere, I think."

Hermione very much wanted to know whether Ron and Seamus were still fighting, but she didn't know how Ron would react if she asked him. And anyway, before she could pluck up the courage, Dean walked in.

"Hey guys," he said, rather jauntily. "Well, she's not angry anymore."

"Who, Ginny?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, we made up."

"Oh, great," Harry said, which sounded more sarcastic than happy, but luckily, Dean didn't pick up the tone.

"So is she back then, Dean?" Hermione asked him.

"Yeah, she's just gone off to her dormitory."

"OK, thanks. See you guys. I'm going to go and get ready."

Harry frowned and looked at his watch.

"But, it's only half past two. You don't need that much time."

"Maybe you don't," said Hermione, cheekily.

"Oh ha-ha-ha. Very funny."

* * *

Three and a half hours later, Ginny, Luna and Hermione stood by the fat Lady's portrait, all dressed up in very elegant dress robes for the paty. Hermione felt very nervous, though she wasn't exactly sure why. Hermione's hair was coated in Sleakeazy's Hair Potion, that she'd also applied for the Yule Ball two years ago. Luna was fiddling with a braid that Ginny had very expertly done up in an elaborate style specially for the party. And Ginny herself, of course, looked stunning in jet-black dress robes.

Dean, Harry and also Ron, came down from the boys' staircase and towards the girls. Dean and Harry both looked very handsome in their dress robes. Ron was only wearing his maroon jumper that Mrs Weasley had knitted for him and a pair of jeans that didn't come past his ankles because of Ron's rapid growth. But, why was it that Ron looked so much more appealing to Hermione, even comparing him to Dean and Harry. Then, something overcame Hermione, and she kissed him on the cheek. Ron went scarlet and looked very surprised, but quite pleased. Hermione suddenly got very embarassed, but luckily, Ginny was the only one that had seen, and she was now grinning at hermione with her eyebrows raised and her arms folded.

"Goodnight, Ron," Hermione said, and walked away from him and nearer to the Fat Lady's portrait hole, leaving Ron looking quite disappointed. Ginny caught up with her.

"And what," she said. "Miss Granger, was that about?"

"It was just a friendly kiss."

"Yes, indeed, a very friendly kiss."

"Oh, shut up, Ginny," Hermione said, laughing.

Suddenly, Ginny peered around. "Hermione, look who's arrived."

Hermione too, peereed around. Then, she saw Cormac Mclaggen climbing down the boys' staircase and walking towards Hermione and Ginny. Mclaggen looked nowhere near as handsome as Dean and Harry. His hair was greasy, his robes were in tatters and even his face looked grubby. Ginny looked from him and then back to Hermione, with a look of disgust on her face. She grabbed Hermione's arm.

"Oh, dear goodness," she stuttered. "You poor thing!"

"Well, he doesn't look that bad," Hermione protested in a flat voice. "True, he doesn't look as charming as-"

"Hermione! Have you seen his hair? And, did he even have a shower at all?"

Suddenly, Ron came over to Ginny and Hermione. He grabbed Hermione's arm very urgently.

"Hermione, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

"Errm...yeah sure," Hermione agreed, and let herself be dragged by Ron to the chairs by the fireplace.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Hermione," Ron said, disbelievingly, almost laughing. "What are you doing?"

Hermione felt very confused, which never usually occurred with Hermione.

"Errm...sitting down?" she said, unsure.

"No," Ron said, exasperatingly. "I mean, what are you doing with Mclaggen?"

"Oh, going to the party with him, I suppose."

"Yeah, I know that. But, why?"

"Why does everyone keep asking that?"

"Because it's a smart question!"

"Why, who do you expect me to go with?"

"I dunno..."

"You? Well, I gave you that offer before, didn't I? Before you went running off to Lavender!"

"Hey! The only reason I did that was because...because..."

"Because what?"

"Because I really love..."

"Love what?"

Ron couldn't say anything after that. Hermione urged him forward. She had a feeling that he knew what he was going to say, but she needed to hear him say it so that she knew it wasn't just in her head or what anyone lese thought. That it was real.

"Ron?" she said, gently. "Because you love what?"

Ron took a deep breath.

"The reason why I'm going out with Lavender," he began, looking anywhere but in Hermione's eyes now. "is because I'm in l-"

"Hermione."

"WHAT!?" she snapped as she turned around to see what idiot had just interrupted perhaps the most crucial moment of her life.

She turned around and then she saw Mclaggen standing behind her. She sighed.

"I'm sorry, Cormac," she said, in her most patient voice. "but we're kind of in the middle of something rather important. So do you think you could please give me just two-"

"Actually." Ron interrupted, in a voice surprisingly high. "it doesn't matter."

And he made to get up. No, Hermione could not let him go. She would not let him go without him saying what he was going to say.

"No! No, Ron!" she called as he started to walk towards the boys' staircase. "Ron! What were you going to say?"

Ron stopped and then turned around. Then he looked Hermione in the eye, yet again, and she nearly crumbled.

**_Oh dear goodness_**, she thought. **_Is he trying to make me collapse? _**

"Ron?" she said, her voice faltering. "What were you going to say?"

Ron sighed. "You look really beautiful." And with that, he half jogged up the boys' staircase, leaving Mclaggen confused and Hermione thinking that she would drown in the tears she thought she was going to shed there and then.


	8. Those Eyes

hello readers! ok...i'm completely obsessed with fanfiction right now...so the chapters are going to be coming pretty quickly for a while! Please R&R! Enjoy! Hannah Longbottom xx

* * *

Hermione stood there, staring at the boys' staircase, as if willing Ron to come down and say what he was really going to say. Tears had started pricking her eyes. Had that really just happened? Had Ron really just said that? Who had heard it? She looked rapidly around the room. Everyone was going about they're own business, except Ginny, Harry and Dean, who were looking at her with confused expressions. It looked like only her and Mclaggen had heard what Ron said. Mclaggen looked very confused.

"What was wrong with Ron?" he asked. Hermione put her head in her hands. She couldn't even answer him. Just then, she felt a hand on her arm.

"Hermione." Hermione looked up and saw Ginny looking at her with a concerned expression. "Could I please talk to you for a second?" she asked.

Ginny pulled Hermione to a corner away from everyone else in the common room. "Ok," she said. "What happened?"

Hermione, choking back tears, told her everything that Ron had said. Ginny's mouth fel open in shock. "Ron really said that?"

"Yes."

"Wow! Maybe he's not as much of a gutless coward after all."

"Ginny, what do I do know?"

"I don't know. I don't know any guys who would act like that."

Both girls thought for a minute. Then Ginny said:

"Lavender is not going to like this."

Hermione gasped. She had forgotten all about Lavender. But then, she realised: she didn't really care. It was probably high time that Lavender got her fair share of pain as well, so that she could possibly see what she's doing to other people. She said this to Ginny and she nodded.

"You're probably right."

"Argh! When all this going to be over!?"

"Errm, Hermione?"

Mclaggen had crept cautiously behind Ginny and was looking at Hermione with that same confused expression that he had been wearing since Hermione's conversation with Ron. He cleared his throat uncertainly.

"Errm...are you ready to go now?"

Hermione sighed, closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose gently.

"I suppose so," she said, quietly.

As Hermione and Mclaggen walked out of the portrait hole, Ginny walked over to Harry and Dean. She smiled at Harry and then winked at Dean. Harry thought his fists were going to be clenched permantantly.

"What was happening with Ron and Hermione?" Dean asked, putting his arm around Ginny.

"Luna?" Harry called to Luna who was staring up at the ceiling, still fiddling with her hair. "Do you want to go?"

Luna was looking up at the ceiling. When she heard Harry, she looked at him.

"The Nargles in here are really terrible," she said, in her usual far away voice. Dean raised his eyebrows and Ginny laughed.

"Errm...yeah, OK," Harry said. "Let's just go."

"See you, Ginny," Luna called, as she and Harry started walking towards the portrait hole.

"Bye, Luna," Ginny said, still giggling.

Then, it was just Dean and Ginny alone in the common room. Dean looked at her and smile. She smiled back, reluctantly.

"You look really nice," Dean said to her.

**_My own loser of a brother just told someone he looked beautiful and all Dean can say is that I look nice? _**she thought, disbelievingly.

"Thanks," she replied. "So do you."

"Are you OK?"

Ginny looked at him with a warning look, not really wanting to get furious at him again.

"Sorry," he said, suddenly defensive. "I know you don't like that question."

"You're right, I don't."

She sighed. She wanted to be with Harry so much.

"Sorry," he said. "It's just that I hate seeing you upset because you're the one person who makes me smile."

Ginny couldn't help smiling. She looked into his eyes, but she didn't feel anything. Yet, whenever she looked into Harry's eyes, she always felt weak at the knees and she never, ever wanted to leave that moment.

**_Why does he have to be so sweet? _**she thought.

"Thanks, Dean. I'm sorry I've been really moody lately, it's just I'm...dealing with some stuff at the moment."

"It's fine. You still have me."

And then he leaned down and kissed her, forgetting who was around them and what they were doing. Even after that, Ginny felt absolutely no sparks, but Dean did.

Half an hour later, at the party, Harry was talking to Professor Slughorn against his free will while Luna stood beside him. Hermione stood holding hands with Mclaggen, also against her free will. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She couldn't just pretend that Ron didn't say what he said. Although, that's the option he'd probably go for. But, really, he hadn't said anything big. But Hermione had never heard him say anyone looked beautiful before. Should she leave it? Or maybe she should talk to him? She wondered if Mclaggen was still rambling on abput Quidditch. She decided she'd better tune back in.

"...I mean, Harry should just see reason. His sister completely gave him an easy save and..."

Yep. Still rambling on about Quidditch.

"In fact," he said. "I think Slughorn's finished with him now. I'll just pop over and talk to him. Oh, now he's talking to Malfoy."

"Malfoy?" Hermione suddenly became alert and looked at where Harry was standing. He was still with Slughorn and Luna, but now Malfoy had joined them.

"What's Malfoy doing here?" she wondered aloud.

A few minutes later, she saw Snape come over and stand next to Malfoy. He began talking to Malfoy and Slughorn.

**_Oh dear_**, Hermione thought. **_I hope Harry doesn't do anything rash._**

But Hermione didn't need to worry. A few minutes later, Snape ushered Malfoy out very urgently. She saw Harry stare at them suspiciously. But before he could move, Mclaggen rushed over to him rapidly, without even excusing himself from Hermione, not that she cared. In fact, she was very relieved. Harry shook Mclaggen off fairly quickly however, and he soon snuck out of the party, presumably hoping to run into Malfoy and Snape and eavesdrop on any conversation they might be having. Hermione went and attempted to hide herself amongst the small crowd so that she wouldn't be bored to tears by Mclaggen.

Harry, now making his way back to Gryffindor Tower, was thinking about the conversation between Malfoy and Snape. When he got into the Gryffindor common room, he saw Ginny staring into the fire. He wanted to make a quick escape into his dormitory, but he found that, as soon as he saw her, he couldn't quite move his feet.

"Hi, Ginny," he said, finally. Ginny peered around at the sound of his voice. Harry noticed that she went red, but that was probably just the heat from the fire, he suspected.

"Hi, Harry," she said.

"Are you OK?"

Ginny sighed. Why was it that the only time she didn't hate this question was when Harry asked it?

"Yes, I'm OK. I suppose."

Harry sat down in the chair opposite her. "Is this the thing that you said you wanted to tell me but couldn't?" he asked.

"Sort of."

"Well, spit it out."

Ginny sighed. "Well, it's really complicated. I wish I could tell you." She looked right into his eyes.

"Maybe I will someday," she said, softly.

It was an unbelievable amount of work for Harry not to grab her and kiss her there and then. She looked so beautiful.

**_How can he not tell by my eyes? _**she thought. **_How do my eyes not give me away? _**

"So, Harry, hows your love life?"

"Pretty lousy at the moment."

"Why? Do you like someone?"

"Errm...well...like you, complicated situation."

"You too? It sucks doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it does."

"Ginny?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you ever..."

"Have I ever what?"

"Have you ever felt...that there could be..."

They were still gazing into each other's eyes. There was real love there. Real love in those eyes. Harry just noticed that Ginny had grabbed onto his hand. He didn't ever want her to let go. He had to say it. He had to tell her.

"Ginny, recently, I've kind of..."

The portrait hole swung open In walked Dean, and has soon as his eyes fell upon Ginny and Harry, his eyes widened. Harry knew from sharing a dormitory with him for six years that this was a sure sign of anger. Dean's eyes flicked back and forth like a pendulum. He was looking from how close Harry and Ginny were sitting to where they're hands were.

He stomped up the boys' staircase in rage. But Ginny found that the only thing she cared about the most was the way Harry had looked at her. It was the same way she always looked at him. Ginny did not want to get her hopes up, but maybe, Harry could somewhat see beyond her being his best friend's little sister. Because in those bright green eyes, Ginny saw something. She couldn't yet tell what it was, but it was something. Something extraordinary. There was something mysterious about those eyes.


	9. A Fun Christmas

Even though Dean had stomped up the stairs in a fit of jealousy and rage, Harry and Ginny were still absorbed in each other. But, Harry decided that he had better be a good friend to Dean.

"I'd better go and see if he's OK," Harry told her.

"OK," she agreed. "Are you coming to my house for Christmas tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

He bade Ginny goodnight and walked up the boys' staircase. When he got to his dormitory, the first thing that he saw was Dean punching his poster of the West Ham football team, and Neville watching him nervously.

"Dean?" Harry said, cautiously.

"What?" Dean snapped.

"Errm...I was just wondering if you were OK."

"Do I look OK!"

"Hey! You don't have to get angry at me! I just came up here to make sure you hadn't got the wrong idea about me and Ginny!"

"So, what's the right idea?"

"The right idea is that she was upset and we were just talking! It's not my fault that you weren't there for her when she needed someone to talk to."

"Excuse me?"

"Errm.." Neville stammered. "I'd better go and look for Seamus. I might be gone for a while."

And with that, he ran out of the room, leaving Dean and Harry arguing alone. Harry sincerely hoped that Ron didn't walk in while they were arguing about his little sister.

"What did you just say?" Dean asked, coldly.

"You heard what I said."

"Who do you think you are to tell me what I should or shouldn't do in my relationship!"

"What kind of a relationship is it if you're hardly ever there for her!"

"I am there for her! You don't know what you're talking about, Potter!"

"Oh, really? So why wasn't it you down there talking to her instead of me?"

"I'm wondering the same thing!"

"Nothing happened! We were just talking!"

"Yeah! Talking and holding hands!"

"You know, Dean, I'm just going to say one more thing. If you don't stick beside Ginny, she's going to drift further and further away from you."

And with that, Harry stormed over to his bed and pulled the bed hangings around him, not even bothering to get into his pyjamas.

* * *

The next morning, in the girls' dormitory, Hermione was getting ready for Christmas at her own house. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" she called. Ginny walked in.

"Hi, Hermione," she said. "I just came to say goodbye before we left. Why couldn't you come with us again?"

"Because I have to go home. My grandparents are coming for Christmas so I have to be there. My Uncle Jim's coming as well, I **_hate _**my Uncle Jim!"

"Oh, OK. Well, we're travelling by Floo Powder to Kings Cross to meet mum and dad, and Kings Cross is a Muggle area, so Dad says we have to go "incognito". So, do I look Muggle enough?"

Hermione looked at Ginny. She was wearing jeans, a navy blue jumper, tanned, high-heeled boots and carrying a handbag. Hermione smiled, impressed.

"Very Muggle-ish! Where did you get those boots from?"

"A Muggle shop in Marble Arch. I think it was called Topshop."

"Oh, ok. Well your incognito is a lot better than your dad's. I swear the last time I saw him go incognito, he was wearing what looked like a woman's one-piece swimming costume."

Ginny laughed, even though she didn't know what a woman's one-piece swimming costume was.

"So," she said, sitting on Hermione's stripped bed. "How was the party with Mclaggen?"

Hermione pulled a face. "Awful. He talked about Quidditch the entire night."

"Well, your night couldn't have been much worse than mine."

"Why, what happened?"

"Well, I was talking to Harry in the common room. We were just talking but I kind of touched his hand. I only meant for it to be in a friendly way, but I kind of didn't let go. And he was looking at me, and then Dean walked in."

"Oh dear. What did he say?"

"He didn't say anything but he looked really angry and he stormed upstairs. Then Harry went up to see if he was OK."

"And what did he say to Harry?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen either of them since last night."

"I'm sure it will be fine. Dean isn't really as hot-tempered as Seamus."

Ginny laughed. "Yeah. It's probably his Irish roots," she said.

"Don't let him catch you saying that." They both laughed.

"So ," Hermione resumed. "Are you worried about Dean or Harry?"

"Well, I'm worried about both of them but I'm more worried about Harry because, like you said, Dean doesn't get angry very easily. He's quite a mellow person."

"Unlike someone I know," said Hermione, giving him a sideways glance.

"It's not my fault! I inherited my quick temper from my mum! And I don't lash out all the time!"

"Right. Only with Ron, Dean, oh and let's not forget Percy and Michael Corner."

"Well, it's just those four."

"Anyway, so what are you going to do?"

"Well, I'm going to talk to Dean and assure him that there's nothing going on with me and Harry."

"Is that really the truth though?"

"Well, yes, nothing really happened?"

"Except for the fact that you're both in love with each other and neither of you will admit it."

"Both?"

**_Oh dear_**, Hermione thought. **_Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Oh well, maybe she should know. _**

"Well," Hermione started. "It's obvious that Harry feels the same way about you."

"I don't think so," Ginny said, frowning in thought.

"No, seriously, he does. Next time you're with Dean, really look at how Harry. Look at how you reacts. Then you'll find you're answer. Trust me."

"OK. But I'm really worried because Harry is spending Christmas with us and it might be awkward between us."

"So, just don't concentrate on the worry about it being awkward, because that makes it awkward."

"OK. But, there's another thing. This is going to sound a bit weird, but I think Dean is threatened by Harry."

"Oh, really?" Hermione said, sarcastically. "You think that! Wow! That's impossible! No way! That's-"

"Hermione, stop it. But, do you really think that's true?"

"Obviously! Every boy in this school is threatened by Harry."

"Why?"

"Because just about every single girl, except me, has gone through a phase, no matter how short, of liking Harry."

"And guys are threatened by that?"

"Of course they are! They all think that there's no way they can compete with "The Great Harry Potter".

"But, that's just stupid! Harry doesn't even like being-"

"I know he doesn't. But that doesn't stop boys being threatened by him."

"Boys are weird."

"Very."

Just then, Lavender came in from the bathroom. She saw Ginny and smiled.

"Hi, Ginny!" she said, cheerfully.

"Oh, hi Lavender," Ginny replied, reluctantly.

"You're going home for Christmas, aren't you?"

"Yes, why?"

"Do you think you could please give Ron this letter for me?" She handed Ginny a small, pink envelope. Ginny stared at it in disgust. Hermione giggled silently. She knew for a fact that Ginny loathed the colour pink.

"Errm.." said Ginny, still staring at the note. "OK, I will."

"Are you happy delivering the note?" Lavender asked.

"I'm delighted," Ginny replied, sarcastically. "Delivering letters to my brother is what I live for."

"OK," Lavender said, unsure what to say to that.

Hermione packed the last of her things, and zipped up her bag.

"Do you want to go downstairs?" she asked Ginny.

"Yeah, let's go."

Ginny and Hermione made they're way downstairs. When they got to the common room, it was even more crowded than usual because of the frantic getting ready for the end of term. Ginny scanned the room for Ron. She saw him standing with Harry and Neville. Ginny and Hermione walked over to them.

"Hi guys," Ginny said.

Hermione was staring at Ron. "Ron, what are you wearing?"

"I told you you look ridiculous!" Harry said to him.

Ron was wearing a pair of extremely tight jeans that looked like they were from the 70's, a sky blue lacy, frilly blouse, a long black velvet coat, red, heart-shaped aviators and white cowboy boots. Ginny and Hermione kept gawping at him.

"What?" Ron said, defensively. I saw it in a Muggle magazine once."

"And exactly, how old was that magazine, Ron?" Harry enquired.

"I don't know," Ron mumbled.

"Ron," Ginny said, sighing. "I am not going around with you looking like that. You look even more of an idiot than usual, and that's saying something."

"Thanks, Ginny."

"Ron?" Hermione asked. "Who gave you that magazine?"

"I got it off Fred and George. They sent it to me by owl last week."

"Why did they send you a Muggle magazine?" Ginny asked.

"Well, they said they've been hanging around a Muggle newsagent because, apparantly, the girl behind the till is very good-looking. Harry, we should take a look at her when we get home!"

"Right Ron," Ginny said, looking quite amused. "Because, you're not going out with someone right now. Speaking of Lavender, she asked me to give you something."

Ron frowned slightly. "What is it?" he asked.

Ginny took the pink envelope from her handbag. She got a whiff of very strong perfume. She crinkled up her nose in disgust and handed Ron the letter. Ron stared at the letter in dismay.

"OK," Ginny said. "I have to go and find Dean, I'll be back in a minute. Ron, seriously, please go and change. I am not going **_anywhere _**with you looking like that."

"Ron, come on." Harry said. "Let's go upstairs and go through your suitcase."

Ginny walked around the common room looking for Dean. She spotted him talking to Seamus in a corner and walked over to them.

"Seamus?" she said. "Sorry, could I please talk to Dean for a minute."

"Yeah, OK," Seamus said and he walked away.

"I really have to be getting on the-" Dean began, before Ginny interrupted him.

"This will only take one minute," she insisted. Dean sighed and folded his arms.

"OK," she started. "I just want you to know that there is nothing going on between me and Harry."

"I know," he said, quietly.

"So why were you so upset?"

"Because...because..."

"Dean, don't worry, OK? Me and Harry were just talking. You don't have to be worried."

Dean sighed again and held her hand. "OK, he said.

"Thank you," Ginny said, before kissing him lightly and then giving him a hug.

"Merry Christmas," he said.

"You too."

"I'll send you your present by owl."

"No, Dean. You don't have to get me a present."

"But I want to. It's Christmas."

"OK, if you insist." They hugged one last time and then Ginny went back to join Hermione and Neville.

"How did it go with Dean?" Hermione asked, quietly.

"It was OK. I think he's more or less fine with it. I think last night was just a twinge of jealousy."

"Well, that's good."

Neville started to sense that this was probably a typical private girls conversation, so he decided to retreat and look for Seamus.

"Bu, Hermione," Ginny said. "What if he finds out about how I feel about Harry."

"He won't," Hermione assured her. "Unless you tell him. Or me, which I definitely won't."

"But, what if he figures it out for himself?"

"Ginny, if no other girl has figured it out, then there is **_no way _**that a boy would."

"OK, well, I hope so."

Just then, Harry and Ron came back from their dormitory, with Ron dressed in his normal Muggle clothes. Ginny gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh good! You're dressed like a normal person!" she exclaimed. Ron scowled at her.

"I'm glad to be out of those clothes anyway," he muttered. "Those jeans were really itchy."

"Was that the only problem you could think of?" Harry asked, disbelievingly.

Ginny and Hermione laughed while Ron turned scarlet.

About ten minutes later, students started milling out of the common room for the Hogwarts Express.

"Well," Hermione said. "I'd better go."

"No, we have to go to Dumbledore's office anyway," Ginny said. "We're using Floo Powder in his fireplace."

"What fireplace are you going to appear in?" Hermione asked.

Ginny thought for a minute. Then she frowned slightly.

"I didn't think about that," she said. "Ron, what fireplace **_are_** we going to appear in?"

"An old abandoned house in Kings Cross. Mum and Dad sent me the address by owl." He took a crumpled up piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Ginny, which she read aloud:

"32, Harper Manor, Poulton Road. OK, so are we just going to meet Mum and Dad there and then Apparate home?"

"Yeah," Ron said. "That's what Dad said."

"OK," Ginny said. "Let's go then."

So Hermione, Ginny, Harry and Ron set off for their Christmas holidays. As the Hogwarts Express and Dumbledore's office were at opposite ends of the school, they bade Hermione goodbye and wished her a Merry Christmas before she made her way to the scarlet steam engine that was the Hogwarts Express. When they got to Dumbledore's office, Harry knocked on the door. He felt a surge of warmth when he saw those bright blue, flashing eyes, silver beard and moon-rimmed spectacles, as Professor Dumbledore answered the door. He beamed.

"Hello Harry, Weasleys!" he said, enthusiastically. "Come in, come in!"

Ginny, Harry and Ron entered his office. Ginny looked around, as this was only the second time she had entered Dumbledore's office, and the first time was when her father had been attacked by a giant snake in the middle of the night, so examining Dumbledore's office wasn't exactly highest on her list of priorities that night. She saw a lot of pictures of past headmasters hung up on the wall, a silver, spindly instrument on Dumbledore's desk andd Fawkes, the phoenix, perched in a corner. Ginny knew this phoenix. She had seen it cry on Harry's arm down in the Chamber of Secrets four years previously, evidently saving him. She stared at Fawkes and smiled. He was so beautiful, and he kept her so calm.

"OK, the Floo Powder is over here," said Dumbledore, pointing to a small dish above the fireplace of what looked like ashes. "Ladies first. Ginny?"

Ginny walked towards the fireplace, took a handful of Floo Powder and tossed it into the licking flames. They instantly turned emerald, and Ginny stepped inside, her trunk held tightly in her hand and her handbag tucked firmly under her arm. She was just about to yell, "Diagon Alley!" as she was so used to doing so, but then she stopped herself and looked at Ron.

"What's the name of the place again?" she asked him. Ron consulted the little piece of paper.

"32, Harper Manor, Poulton Road," he read aloud.

"32, Harper Manor, Poulton Road!" Ginny shouted, clearly. She felt that familiar headache-y, spinning sensation as the flames instantly began to do their job. A few minutes later, Ginny shot out of a fireplace in an old, crumbling building. She got up, and looked around. This was an old, abandoned building all right. There was dust everywhere and mice scurrying across the planks of wood, which were what Ginny could only assume were floorboards. She wondered if this were mansion belonged to wizards or Muggles. Either way, it didn't look like anyone, wizar or Muggle, had lived here for a long time. She was just beginning to wonder if she had arrived at the right place, when Ron shot out of the fireplace.

"Ginny?" he spluttered.

"I'm here," she said.

Ron got to his feet. He looked around the place in disgust. "What a hole!" he exclaimed. Ginny looked at him in exasperation.

"It is an old, abandoned building, Ron. What did you expect?"

"I dunno. I thought it would be a bit more ship-shape than this!"

Ginny rolled her eyes and sighed as Harry shot out of the fireplace. Ginny looked at him.

"Harry, thank goodness you made it to the right place this time!" she said, with a smile. A smile that made Harry nearly collapse. Instead, he laughed.

"Yeah, I did this time!" he said.

"Where are Mum and Dad?" Ron asked.

Right on cue, there was a small pop, which seemed to echo around the "hole". There in front of Harry, Ginny and Ron were, not just Mr and Mrs Weasley, but Fred and George too.

"Fred, George!" Ginny said, in an amazed voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Merry Christmas to you too!" Fred said, pretending to look hurt.

"Sorry," Ginny said, rolling her eyes. She went over to hug them both. "Hi!" She'd always been very close with Fred and George. She went over to hug her parents, then paused when she saw her father. He was wearing a pair of tight, leather trousers, a frilly white shirt with bright coloured swirls and spirals on it, a matching black leather jacket with the collar up-turned, a pair of sunglasses and a pair of cowboy boots with rhinestones on them. Ginny, after scanning her father in horror, turned to face Fred and George, who were now in stiches at her expression.

"Why did you let him leave the house like this?!" she asked them in horror.

"He insisted on wearing it!" said George.

"Ginny, dear, it's the look! I promise you! I saw it in a magazine!"

"Did you by any chance get this magazine off Fred and George?" Ginny asked.

"Yes!" Mr Weasley replied. "How did you know? Have they been giving you some too? Could I borrow a couple?"

"Oh Dad!" Ginny said, rubbing her forehead. "You look worse than Ron did! Please will you just promise me that tomorrow you'll go back to wearing your own clothes?" Mr Weasley look of enthusiasm crumpled for a minute, but then it went to normal.

"Oh, alright!" he agreed. "But only because these trousers are too tight. But I am still incognito. uggles wear this, don't they Harry?"

"Not anymore they don't!" Harry said, still astounded by Mr Weasley's appearance.

"Anyway," Mrs Weasley said, loudly. "Let's go. Where are your trunks?"

"Over there," said Ron, pointing to a corner.

"Good!" Mrs Weasley said, briskly. "_Accio trunks!_" The trunks flew over to the Weasleys and Harry.

"Everybody," Mrs Weasley continued. "Hold on to your trunks and to the person next to you! We're about to Apparate!"

"So, Ginny," Fred whispered softly in her ear as he held her hand. "How's it going with Mr. Thomas?"

Ginny sighed deeply. This was going to be a fun Christmas.


	10. Hurt

* * *

One month later, Ginny walked up stairs leading to the Fat Lady's portrait. She was about to say "dilligrout", but then she remembered that the password must have been changed. She looked around. There was no one coming. She might as well give it a try.

"Dilligrout?"

"I don't think so, dear," the Fat Lady replied. Ginny sighed. What was she going to do now? Stand outside until someone came?

"Hi!" Ginny turned around and saw Hermione walking towards her.

"Hi!" she replied, and gave her a hug as she drew nearer. "Do you know the new password?"

"Yeah, Dumbledore just gave it to me. Abstinence."

"You may now enter," the Fat Lady said, briskly.

The two girls entered the common room. "How was your Christmas?" Hermione asked.

"Could have been better, could have been worse. You?"

"Not bad, but Christmas Day was pretty bad though. My Uncle Jim drunk is ten times worse than when he's sober! And his daughter, Octavia, is even worse! She's my age and she's so stuck up! And she tells all these pointless, endless stories about herself that nobody cares about! Seriously! Everyone just tunes out whenever she starts off!"

Ginny laughed.

"And New Year's was depressing as well!" Hermione continued.

"Why?"

"Because all the people my age, and older come to that, were with someone that they were going out with."

"Oh. So who did you hang around with?"

"My mum and dad. So, all in all, a great Christmas! What about yours?"

"Well, Fred and George wouldn't stop teasing me about Dean, but to be fair, they did tease Ron about Lavender a lot more. But it was still really irritating!"

"Oh, that's a shame! Well, did Dean send you a Christmas present?"

"Yeah." From her pocket, Ginny deposited a thick, silver patterned bracelet and showed it to Hermione.

"Oh my goodness," Hermione said, nearly whispering.

"Yeah," Ginny said.

"It's awful!" Hermione cried.

"I know!" Ginny replied.

"Well," Hermione stuttered, evidently trying to look on the bright side. "I'm sure Dean thought it was arty!"

"Hermione, this is horrible! What if he insist that I wear it?"

"Then...just wear it. No one is going to even notice it on your wrist."

"I suppose so."

The two girls went up the girls' staircase. When Hermione got to her dormitory, Lavender and Parvati were already back. Lavender was sitting on Parvati's bed. She was laughing and her eyes were shining. She looked ecstatic about something or other. Hermione thought that some of the Christmas cheer hadn't completely left Lavender yet, but then she saw something around her neck as she doubled over, laughing.

Around Lavender's neck was a simple, yet beautiful, silver chain with a tiny, glass heart as a pendant.

"But seriously though," Lavender was saying, now quite solemn. "I really didn't think that he'd give me a Christmas present."

Hermione swept straight past Parvati and Lavender, dumped her bags and books on to her bed and started to brush her hair naturally, as if what they were talking about didn't affect her. But both Lavender and Parvati both knew that it did because Hermione **_never_** brushed her hair, on account of the fact that it made it even bushier. The idea of Hermione worrying about her appearance was actually anything but natural.

Parvati wondered whether she should go over to Hermione or just to let Lavender carry on hurting Hermione, now intentionally. She decided to take the easy way out, literally.

"I'm going to go and see who's back," Parvati said, and rushed out, leaving Lavender to trail off pathetically. Lavender looked over at Hermione, who was still "brushing her hair" with her back turned. With a sigh, Lavender got off her bed and began to unpack. She supposed that she would have to spend another night in her dormitory in silence.

* * *

The next morning, Ginny walked down to breakfast with Dean. She was desperately trying not to convert the conversation towards the hideous bracelet that Dean had given her.

"So, what did you do for Christmas?" Dean asked.

**_Oh no,_** Ginny thought. "It was alright. Fred and George kept teasing me mercilessly about you, of course, but that was expected. Anyway, I suppose Ron got it worse."

Dean laughed. "Oh yeah, how are Fred and George."

"Fine, I guess."

"It looks like they're doing well in their joke shop. I saw it when I went shopping in Diagon Alley. They're quite clever. U-No-Poo!"

Dean started laughing hysterically. At first, Ginny giggled uncertainly, but then she started to get a bit impatient.

"It's really not that funny," she said, irritably.

"Oh, but it is!" Dean insisted, tears now rolling down his face. Ginny gave an exasperated sigh and started quickening her pace. Dean was so shocked at her reaction that he didn't even call after her.

Hermione stared down at her bowl of cornflakes. She had been looking at it for about half an hour now, she realised. Suddenly the chilly dregs of corn mush didn't look very tempting to her now. Then, she heard a sharp voice calling her name.

"Hermione!" She looked up and saw Harry staring at her. "Can you please pass the sugar?" he asked.

"Oh," Hermione said, vaguely. "Yeah, sure." Suddenly, Ginny came and sat beside Hermione and shook the bench as she did so. She got a cup of tea and began rapping a teaspoon against the mug impatiently.

"Are you alright, Ginny?" Ron asked.

"Yes," she said, fiercely. "Why?"

"Nothing," Ron said, quickly. "It's just that you look kind of...tense. And you're kind of flushed too."

"Am I?" Ginny hastily put her hand up to her left cheek. It was burning, and sh could tell that it must be red. **_Great, _**she thought to herself. **_Just what I need...crimson cheeks. _**

"So, how was your Christmas, Hermione?" Harry asked, eager to start any conversation.

"It was alright," Hermione replied. "Pretty quiet, except for New Years obviously, but, you know."

"Have you guys seen Seamus anywhere?" Ron suddenly asked.

"Yeah," Ginny replied. "I saw him on my way down. He was by the Lake."

"OK," Ron said. He got up abruptly, and left the Great Hall.

"What was that about?" Ginny asked.

"No idea," said Harry.

Ron strolled down to the Lake. At first, he couldn't see Seamus and he asumed that he must have left since Ginny saw him, but then he saw him at the edge of the Lake. Ron walked over to him.

Seamus didn't seem to sense Ron behind him, so Ron cleared his throat. Seamus wheeled around. He had a hopeful looking expression on his face. But that look soon changed to disappointment and hurt at the sight of seeing Ron.

"What do you want, Weasley?" he said, roughly. Ron winced. Seamus **_never _**called him Weasley.

"Errm," he muttered. "I just really wanted to say..well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, really."

"Sorry for what?" he asked, distantly. Seamus had now begun skimming stones, and he wasn't even looking at Ron.

"Well, I'm sorry for hurting you. And going out with Lavender."

Seamus dropped the stones and turned around to face Ron.

"Why did you do it?" he asked. He didn't sound rough anymore. He now sounded small and hurt. Something Ron had never seen on Seamus before.

"I..I...well, I dunno, really. I suppose it's just the fact that someone like Lavender actually wanted to go out with me. It just seemed really unreal. It...just...it was quite hard to believe it could actually be true."

Seamus nodded. He could see that it had taken a lot of strength and courage for Ron to muster up, and for that, he respected him.

"Then I realised," Ron continued. "I realised that it was so hard to believe because...it wasn't true."

Now Seamus looked confused. "What?" he asked.

"Lavender doesn't like me," Ron explained. "She likes you. I know she still has feelings for you Seamus. **_I know. _**But, that doesn't really matter to me because I don't really like her, either. It was wrong of me to go out with her when clearly, you and her are made for each other."

Seamus smiled.

"I'm going to break it off with Lavender," Ron said, firmly. Now Seamus looked shocked.

"Ron, mate, you don't have to do that."

"Yes, I do. You clearly like her a lot and to be honest, I don't really have any feelings for her. That's partly why I feel so bloody stupid right now. So, I'm going to do it as soon as I can. Then, she'll be all yours."

Thanks, Ron. Thanks a lot."

"It's no problem."

"You know, Ron, Hermione actually really loves you."

This completely caught Ron off-guard and his ears started to turn red. This was such an un-Seamus thing to say. Seamus saw Ron's shocked expression and chuckled.

"I'm not actually just saying that, Ron. She's been miserable ever since you went out with Lavender. She really loves you."

"Yeah, well, I'll deal with that when I've solved the Lavender problem."

Seamus knew that Ron cared a lot more than he let on, and he could tell that he loved Hermione too. But, he decided not to say anything. He found playing matchmaker a rather tedious job.

"Ron. Thanks again."

"It's alright, mate. Don't worry about it." They both thought it a bit too feminine to hug each other, so they simply shook hands demurely.


	11. The Worst Valentine's

February had finally come, and Ron was worrying about how to break up with Lavender. There seemed to be several no-go areas. For example, he couldn't let her down too harshly because it might make Seamus a bit unhappy, but letting her down harshly could also be a benefit for Seamus because then if Ron broke her heart then she would most likely go running to Seamus for a shoulder to cry on. Also, if he let her down too easy, she might try and cling on even harder, and if he let her down too harshly...well then he was back to square one. He couldn't ask Harry for help because Harry had a lot on his mind at the moment. Quidditch, finding out what Malfoy was up to, Apparition lessons and it seemed like there was something else on Harry's mind too, but Ron couldn't really guess what. Whenever he and Harry seemed to be in the common room by the fire in the evenings, he sometimes went a little bit quiet. But Ron didn't like to ask. He usuually just left Harry alone with his thoughts.

"Won-Won!"

**_Oh no,_** Ron thought. He turned around and, sure enough, there was Lavender coming towards him.

"Hi Lavender," Ron said, unenthusiastically.

"Won-Won?" Lavender said, frowning. "Why aren't you wearing your necklace?"

"My what?" Ron said, confused. Then he remembered: that hideous gold chain that Lavender had gotten him for Christmas. What was he going to say?

"Errm..." he stuttered. "I...decided not to wear it today...be-because i wore it so much at home. I don't want to wear it out too much."

"Oh ok," Lavender said, looking a bit disgruntled. "Well make sure you wear it tomorrow!"

"What? Errm...yeah..alright."

Lavender gave Ron a kiss before departing and Ron had to sink into an armchair. Wear that gold tomorrow? Here? In front of people? Neither Harry or Hermione would ever let him live it down. He'd have to break up with Lavender as soon as possible.

* * *

"Ron!"

"Huh?" Ron looked up with a confused expression on his face. He was in the common room, attempting to tackle his Potions homework. Harry and Dean were peering at him.

"Ron," said Harry. You've been in a daydream for about half an hour. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ron replied. "I'm just...worried about my Potions essay. Harry raised his eyebrows. The day when Ron became worried about schoolwork would be the day that Harry would go out with Romilda Vane. Speaking of which, he still had a box of Chocolate Cauldrons from Romilda which were poisoned with Amorentia, the deadly love potion. It was even deadlier if it would cause him to develop lust for Romilda Vane. Harry gave an almighty shudder just thinking about it. He also still had the Felix Felicis that Slughorn had given him. Harry's heart sank when he thought of Professor Slughorn. He still had to do that special task for Dumbledore which involved retrieving a memory about Horcruxes from the only person who still had the memory left: Slughorn. This was proving a difficult task for Harry simply because he wasn't sure how to go about asking Slughorn. He couldn't exactly say: "Oh by the way, sir, do you think I could please have that memory that you have of you telling Riddle what Horcruxes are? Cheers!" He'd already tried looking through his copy of _Advanced Potion Making_, but as Hermione had repeatedly said, if it was possible to get it from a book then Dumbledore would have been able to do it himself without asking Harry. There had to be some way that Harry could do it, and only Harry would be able to. But what?

"So Ron, what are you going to do for Valentine's Day?" Dean suddenly asked, breaking Harry's thoughts. Ron looked up sharply.

"What do you mean what am I going to do?" he asked, looking confused.

"Well," Dean went on. It's the 12th now, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Ron said slowly, still not quite following.

"Valentine's Day is on the 14th."

"So?"

"So, what are you going to get for Lavender." Ron's eyes widened.

"I have to get Lavender something?" he asked, his voice suddenly squeaky.

"Yes," Dean said, as if Ron had just asked if house elves liked working. "Of course you do. It's **_Valentine's Day_**. I bought a necklace and a card for Ginny."

Harry's hand stiffened on his armchair rest and his knuckles went white.

"What should I get for Lavender?" Ron asked.

"I don't know," Dean said. "Girls like being bought things but they also appreciate hand-made stuff. So if you're desperate, why don't you just make her something."

Harry snorted. "Ron, make something? No way! It's like saying that chickens can read!"

Ron and Dean laughed. "OK," Ron said. "Maybe making something is a bad idea. But I don't know what else to do! I can't buy her a decent present in two days! The next Hogsmeade visit isn't for another month!"

"Ron, calm down!" Harry said. "Breathe. Just ask Fred and George if they can get you something decent." Ron gave Harry an are-you-stupid? look. Harry suddenly thought of what he had just said.

"OK, ignore that," he said, laughing again. "Bad idea. Why don't you just order her flowers or something. And make her a card. That's fine. Or you can just give her a box of chocolates. That will be fine."

"Where will I find a bunch of flowers?"

"Just pick the most impressive looking ones," Dean insisted. "You'll be fine, Ron. OK, guys, I'm going to bed. Night."

"Night, Dean," Ron said with a yawn. Harry suddenly developed the inability to speak to Dean.

"Harry, what should I do?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, mate. Why don't you get Hermione to help you? She's much better at this girl stuff than I am."

Ron raised his eyebrows. "The peck marks just faded, Harry."

"OK, tell you what," Harry sighed. "Make Lavender a card tonight, see if you can find her a box of Chocolate Frogs or something and then tomorrow morning we'll look in the_ Daily _Prophet for a flower shop that can send Lavender flowers by Valentine's Day."

"Oh, Harry, I owe you one. You're a lifesaver, thank you."

"No problem."

* * *

By the next morning, Harry had successfully helped Ron to make Lavender a halfway decent looking card and found a box of Chocolate Cauldrons (not the poisoned ones from Romilda Vane, although he was very tempted to give them to Ron to give to Lavender just so that he could get rid of them and have a laugh out of it as well!). When they went down to breakfast, Harry and Ron skimmed the _Daily Prophet _for a florist's. They found one called _Betty's Blooms_. They sent an owl to Betty asking if she could send a bouqet of red roses to a Miss Lavender Brown tomorrow morning.

So, Ron's present to Lavender was all sorted. But all Ron could think about all day was Seamus. How would Seamus feel about Ron giving Lavender a Valentine's Day present when he had promised himt hat he would he break up with her? Would he be angry? Or hurt? He suspected both. Ron sighed. He had better talk to Seamus about it.

They had a free period after later on that afternoon and he knew that Seamus had one at the exact same time. So straight after Potions, Ron sprinted up to Gryffindor Tower and dumped his books on his bed. Seamus was already in the dormitory.

"Hey, Ron!" he said. "Are you alright there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Ron replied, still out of breath from running. "Listen, Seamus, I need to talk to you about something."

"What's up?"

"Well, I haven't really found a way to end things with Lavender yet, and you know Valentine's Day is tomorrow and..."

"And you need to give Lavender a present because you would rather give her a present rather than her have a mental breakdown because her boyfriend hasn't given her anything for Valentine's Day."

"Yes! Exactly!"

"I know, I guessed. Don't worry about it. Seriously, I expected you to anyway. And anyway, it would probably be dangerous for your health and yours if you didn't."

Ron laughed. "Yeah, I know. Thanks mate."

"Don't mention it."

"But do you think it would be a good idea for me not to give her a present. Yes! Then he'd break up with me!"

"No. Ron if you do that she'll just cry about it. But she won't break up with you."

"Oh." Ron looked a little bit disappointed. "OK."

Meanwhile, Harry was talking to Hermione in the common room.

"So, Hermione," Harry said. "What are you going to do for Valentine's Day."

"Harry what gives you the idea that I'd have anything to do on Valentine's Day?"

Harry blushed. "Oh, OK. Sorry."

No, don't be silly! Don't be sorry!"

"OK. Hermione, are you going out with McLaggen?"

"Absolutely not! What gave you that idea?"

"Because you two went to Slughorns party together."

"And did it look like it went well?"

Harry hesitated. "Not really."

"Exactly. No, McLaggen and I are not involved in any way."

Just then, Ginny entered the common room and sat on the sofa next to Harry.

"Hi guys," she said.

"Hi," said Hermione and Harry at the same time.

"Ginny, what are you doing for Valentine's Day?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Ginny said, wearily. "Doing something with Dean, I think."

Harry stared into the fire so that neither of the two girls would see how red he was. Hermione observed this and raised her eyebrows. Then, she tured back to Ginny.

"Are you going to give him anything?" Hermione asked her.

"No," Ginny said, firmly. Harry smiled at how different her reaction from Ron's was to this question. Sometimes he could hardly believe that Ginny and Ron were form the same family.

"Why not?" Hermione asked.

"Because, what the hell is the point? What do you get for a guy on Valentine's Day?"

"Why don't you give him a card like the one you gave Harry when you were in first year?" Hermione suggested innocently. Now Ginny was the one to turn red. She looked at Harry quickly, but he was still staring into the fireplace. She looked back at Hermione.

**_I'm going to kill you_**, Ginny mouthed at her. Hermione stifled a giggle. Harry, eyes still locked on the dancing flames, what with the heat of the fire and his embarassment that he was refusing to show, his face was now in comparison with a boiled beetroot. Yes, there was no doubt about it. He was **_dreading _**Valentine's Day.

* * *

The dreaded day came, of course. At breakfast, Lavender got a huge bouquet of red roses, card, a box of Chocolate Cauldrons and an inappropriatly long kiss from Ron. Hermione made herself scrce as soon as she saw the tawny and the owl flying towards Lavender with a bouquet tied to they're feet.

"We're eating," Ginny muttered, as usual. Ron glared at her when he finally dew breath.

That afternoon, Ginny sat at her usual desk in Transfiguration, next to Luna. She was lost in her own thoughts. She was extremely unhappy but she wasn't entirely sure why. She w perfectly healthy, her family was fine (all except for Percy who seemed to be sufferig serious mental problems, she couldn't understand why else her older brother would turn his back on his family), Voldemort had been out in the open for two years now and all her family and friends were in perfectly good health, she had a boyfriend and she would be spending Valentine's Day evening with him. So why wasn't she happy? She knew why. It was simply because she was in love with Harry Potter.

"Ginny!" Luna waved her hand in front of Ginny's face.

"Yeah?" Ginny replied, coming out of her daydream.

"I was just asking you where did you get that lovely bracelet?" Luna asked, staring at Ginny's wrist. Ginny too, looked down at her wrist. She only saw the hideous silver braceleet that Dean had given her for Christmas. Luna couldn't be talking about that, could she? Of course she could, she was Luna!

"This thing?" Ginny asked, pointing to the bracelet. She was wearing it specially for Valentine's Day to make Dean happy. He kept pestering her about it.

"Yes," Luna insisted. "It's beautiful."

"Well, it might not be long before I can give it to you, Luna."

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting very quiet lately."

"Oh, nothing. It's just...I've got lots of things on my mind."

Just then, the bell rang, signalling the end of Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall hastily started telling them about they're homework, but Ginny blocked it all out. All she could think about was getting to the common room and awaiting the Valentine's Day doom that loomed ahead of her, and then get it over and done with.

Ginny wasn't the only Weasley hating every single moment of Valentine's Day that passed. Lavender hung on to Ron's arm all day long. She had him cursing to himself by the end of the day. Harry walked into his dormitory and saw Ron kicking his bed.

"Had a good day?" he asked. Ron turned around, his ears flaming.

"I swear," he said, quietly. "There are pinch marks from where Lavender has been grabbing on to my arm. She knows that I want to break up with her, she can sense it. So she is literally clinging on for all she's worth. I swear, Harry, she's like a bloodhound."

"A bloodhound's best sense is it's smell, Ron. Do you think Lavender can smell the fact that you want to dump her."

"Well, whatever. The only thing I'm looking forward to right now is the Apparition tests and my birthday next month. So, hows the Slughorn thing going?"

Harry's smile faded. "It's not," he said, grudgingly. "I can't find a way to get around Slughorn. I tried asking him and he went mental at me."

"Maybe you should try Veritaserum."

"I already suggested that to Dumbledore. He said it won't do any good. He said I need to be the one that gets it from him."

"Well, I think if Dumbledore thinks you can do it, you can do it."

"Yeah, well, I'm not too sure. And it's not just that. I still haven't figured out what Malfoy's up to yet!"

"Harry, no offence, but I really think you should leave Malfoy alone and focus on Slughorn."

"He's up to something dodgy! I know it! if he's in contact with Greyback, then that has got to be suspicious, hasn't it?"

"I suppose. But I'm just saying, you don't want to get to obsessed. You know what you're like when you're hooked!"

"But-"

"I'm not going to argue!" Ron said, firmly. "I'm just saying." Harry was too tired to contradict him, so he simply left it at that.

Down in the common room, Hermione was feeling lonely. She was in her comfiest thick, grey cardigan with a steaming hot chocolate sitting curled up in the armchair by the fire. She had tried to make herself feel as at home as possible and she was trying not to look at all the couples surrounding the room. She was very grateful that Ron and Lavender were not one of them. What was she going to do about Ron? She really couldn't take much more of sitting around and watching him with Lavender. She knew that they were not going to last forever, but how long would they last? And even when they did eventually break up, what would happen then? Would her and Ron just automatically go back to being best friends? And what about her and Lavender? Hermione rubbed her forehead. Oh, it was all so complicated! She decided she would go up to bed.

On her way up to the girls' staircase, she met Ginny.

"Hi, Gin!" she said. "Where are you going?"

"I have to meet Dean downstairs," Ginny replied, wearily. "Great."

"Are you going to break up with him tonight?" Hermione asked.

"No, not on Valentine's Day. But soon, yeah."

"OK, well, good luck. I'm going up to bed."

"Goodnight," Ginny called, making her way down the stairs. She scanned the common room for Dean. He wasn't there yet.

**_Good_**, she thought. **_A bit of time to sit and think._**

She had barely sat down in her favourite armchair by the fire, when she felt a hand over her eyes.

"Guess who?" Ginny sighed. Why did he even bother to do that. It was obviously Dean.

"Hi, Dean!" she said, as cheerily as she could manage.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked.

"Lucky guess!" Ginny said, as he took a seat opposite her.

"Anyway," Dean went on. "I have a present for you." He handed her a wrapped parcel. Ginny gasped. But inside she was desperly hoping that it wasn't a similarity to her Christmas present. But as she tore open the wrapping paper, she took out a lovely gold necklace with a simple little gold circle with a **G **in the middle.

"Dean!" she exclaimed. "It's gorgeous! It's so lovely, thanks so much!" She gave him a kiss and took another look at the necklace. She couldn't believe that Dean had really given her this, and just for Valentine's Day?

"I'll put it on you," he insisted. And he did so, very carefully, as if any sudden movements would break the necklace. Then, he kissed her on the cheek. Ginny smiled. She loved the necklace so much, but she couldn't help wishing how much she wanted Harry to be the one giving it to her and being with her on Valentine's Day.

"And," Dean went on. "I have something else!"

He went behind the armchair he was sitting on and brought out a little bowl full of ice-cream.

"It's your favourite!" he said. "Hot fudge with with bananas, whipped cream and nuts!"

**_Is he serious? _**Ginny thought. **_My favourite ice-cream? How cheesy can you get? Poor thing, he should've just left it with the necklace. _**

"Wow! OK, that's great! Cos everyone wants ice-cream at the end of February. Especially when they have a cold!" Dean's smile faltered a bit.

"What's wrong, darling?" he asked. Ginny gritted her teeth. "Are you allergic to nuts or something?"

"I'm obviously not allergic to nuts if it's part of my favourite ice-cream, Dean! And **_don't _**call me darling unless you have a death wish!"

"What's gotten into you?"

"Nothing's gotten into me! It's just the only thing I want in the world right now is to curl up in bed with some hot chocolate." **_Well, that and Harry _**she thought.

"OK, you don't have to be so snappy! I was just trying to do a nice thing for you on Valentine's Day! I got you a necklace and even your favourite ice-cream..."

"Fine!" Ginny snapped. "Stop whining and whinging, Dean! It drives me mad! Fine, I'll eat your sodding ice-cream if it means that much to you! Honestly! STOP BEING SUCH A GIRL!"

Ginny started to eat the ice-cream, but she couldn't enjoy it. Not just because she didn't want it, but also because she was trying her hardest not to look up and see the shocked and hurt expression on Dean's face.


	12. Peculiar

Hi there! orry it took so long for an update compared to the last two chapters! Really sorry, but I had time to spell check when I was done, but hopefully the spelling won't be too apalling! Hope you enjoy it! Please, no flames! I love you all, Hannah Longbottom xxxxxx

I dedicate this chapter to Miriamimus, q8iya and Love2Love...just because I miss you guys so much! Don't worry, I'll fix whatever is stopping me from receiving PMs and alerts and stuf! I love you guys xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ron's birthday was just around the corner and Lavender would not let a single breathing soul forget it. All she could talk about was Ron's birthday, what she was going to get him, what she was going to wear etc. It was all anybody could stand. That morning at breakfast, Lavender was going on and on about it.

"Ginny!" she said, enthusiastically. "You know it's Ron's birthday in two days!"

"Lavender," Ginny said, wearily. I am well aware of the date of my brother's birthday. But thank you for reminding me, repeatedly." Lavender was so excited that she couldn't even sense Ginny's sarcastic tone. She was too busy asking Parvati if she should wear her the necklace Ron gave her or her other silver one. Parvati wasn't even listening to her. She was just staring out of the window in front of her with a bored looking expression. Lavender did not even notice that no-one at the table was listening to her. She turned in her seat towards tthe entrance and she saw Ron entering the Great Hall with Semaus. Her eyes widened.

"Sshh!" she said, hastily. "Quick, stop talking about it! Ron's coming!"

"Lavender," Ginny said, her voice becoming more and more exasperated by the minute. "The only person who is talking about Ron's birthday is you." Harry, Hermione, Dean and Parvati laughed as Ron and Seamus took a seat at the breakfast table.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked.

"Oh, just something Lavender said," Ginny said, casually, as Lavender turned a violent shade of pink. Ron gave Ginny a strange look, shrugged and then delved into his toast and sausages.

* * *

The next day, Lavender was seriously contemplating on what to get Ron for his birthday. She was in the library with Parvati, and Parvati could see that she had failed to do any work, but she had drawn a spider web on gifts for Ron. At the moment, Lavender was thinkg about a a golden plaque that had engraved on to it, "Won-Won! First prize for Best Boyfriend Of The Year!" But when she asked Parvati about this idea, she shook her head vigorously, her eyes wide with alarm. Then, Lavender suddenly got an idea. She gasped loudly.

"I can send an owl to the bookshop now if I hurry!" she said, loudly, packing her books away quickly. Parvati stared after her as she rushed out of the library.

**_Was it just me_**, she thought to herself. **_Or did she sound just like Hermione then_**. She looked around the library. The only other sixth year she could see was Harry. What was Harry doing in the library alone? She decided to move over to him. Ever since the whole Lavender-Ron-Hermione started, her and harry had been getting on rather well. This was probably because they were both still playing the role of piggy-in-the-middle.

"Hi Harry," Parvati said, jauntily, as she took the seat beside Harry. He was reading his copy of _Advanced Potion Making_ and he shut it as soon ashe saw Parvati.

"Hi Parvati," he answered.

"What's up?" she asked, as Harry looked so down in the dumps.

"Not much."

"Why are you here? It's just I never usually see you in the library on your own."

"Oh, no reason. I can't find Ron and the only people in the common room are Dean and Ginny. So I just came here. I was going to play a bit of Quidditch, but Mclaggen is down on the Quidditch pitch and I'm really not in the mood to talk to him right So, the library was the only place I could think of."

"Oh, right. Well, on your own is a lot better than being around Lavender while she's talking about what to get Ron for his birthday. Can you believe it? She asked me he thought that a golden plaque with 'Won-Won! First prize for Best Boyfriend Of The Year!' You should count yourself lucky Harry."

Harry laughed. "Yeah, I suppose my situation is a bit worse than yours. At least Ron and Seamus have made up."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Parvati, I have to go. I'm going to try and find Hermione."

"Oh, OK. I'm going to stay here. I have loads of Divination homework to do."

And with that, Harry departed from the library. He walked extremely slowly to have a think before he got to the common room. What was he going to do about Ginny? He couldn't really do anything, but yet he couldn't bear to watch her with Dean for much longer.

He walked into the common room, and as soon as he scanned the room, he saw Ginny sitting in the armchair by the fire, hugging her knees and her head buried in her knees. Harry walked over to her and sat in the armchair opposite. Ginny raised her head at the sound of the springs in the chair creaking a Harry sunk down on to it. Her eyes were very red and swollen, and it was obvious that she had been crying.

"Ginny?" Harry said, tentatively. "What's wrong?"

""Oh, nothing," Ginny said, unconvincingly. "I just have...hayfever."

"Really? Are you sure that's what it really is?"

Ginny hesitated. Harry wasn't stupid, but what could she tell him? She had made a decision in her mind to end things with Dean, and then tell Harry how she felt. But everytime she saw him, she just wanted to spill everything out. To tell him the whole truth. But she couldn't. She sighed.

"Well, no," she said, finally. "That isn't it, but I'd rather not talk about it at the moment."

"OK, that's fine. So, how are your OWLs going?"

"Not too great."

"Why not? You're clever."

"No, I'm not! Anyway, I've had loads on my mind this year so it's kind of hard to concentrate."

"Like what?"

"Like...Quidditch and...stuff."

"Oh right. Well, they're seriously not that bad anyway. Except for History of Magic. You know Professor Binns."

Ginny laughed. "How was the History of Magic exam then?"

"Oh, I don't remember much of mine. That's when my scar...well, I sort of fell asleep and saw that stuff about Sirius and...well, you remember."

"Yeah, I do. Harry, you know it's OK to talk about Sirius. I miss him too. I mean, I know it's different for you cos he was your godfather and everything...sorry, I'm not helping, am I?"

"No, it's fine!" Harry insisted. "It's just weird cos I haven't talked about Sirius with anyone in such a long time."

"I know. Well, just so you know, I'm always here for you." Harry glowed with pleasure as Ginny gave him a small smile.

The next morning, Lavender waited proudly at the foot of the boys' staircse with Ron's birthday present in her hand and a big smile on her face. She had done her hair and make-up especially for her boyfriend's birthday. Parvati came down from the girls' staircase and was about to walk out of the portrait hole door, but then she saw Lavender, so she walked towards her instead.

"Coming to breakfast?" Parvati asked her.

"No," Lavender replied, jauntily. "I'm going to wait for Ron to come down so I can say happy birthday and give him his present."

"Oh, OK. You're not going to give him the plaque are you?"

Lavender laughed. "Oh, no! Of course! I realised how silly that was!"

Parvati gave a sigh of relief and then laughed too. "Oh, good!"

"Yeah! I'm going to give him this certificate instead!" She held up a piece of parchment with Lavender's neat writing saying:

For: Won-Won!

Achievement: First Prize for Best Boyfriend of The Year!

Signed by: Lavender Brown

Comments: I love you Won-Won!

Parvarti looked positively appalled. Lavender saw her expression.

"I know it looks a bit strange," she said. "But it'll be fine! Ron will love it! And I have another present here!"

"What is it?" Parvati asked, doubtfully.

"Aaah!" Lavender tapped her nose in that knowing way that was always infuriating.

"Will you not ever tell me?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course I will! I'll tell you after I give it to Ron! Oh, I can't wait to see the expression on his face when I give it to him! Especially the certificate!

"Oh, I wish I could see it! Believe me! But I'm really hungry...so I'll leave you. Good luck!"

As Parvati made her way to the portrait hole, she heard quick footsteps catching up to her. She turned around, and then smiled.

"Oh, hi Seamus!" she said.

"Hey Parvati," Seamus replied, walking alongside her.

"So, Seamus, could you do me a favour and answer me this question?"

"Sure."

"When are you and Lavender going to finally be together?"

Seamus stopped dead in his tracks and looked at Parvati, surprised at the bluntness of her question. Parvati stopped as well and explained herself a bit.

"Well, we all know it's going to happen eventually. So when are two going to spare all of us sane people and finally sort yourselves out?"

"Errm...well, it all depends on Ron really. You see, he's agreed to step back graciously, eventually."

"OK, well, I just want to let you know that...Lavender does actually love you. She's just using Ron to make you jealous." And with that, Parvati walked on into the Great Hall leaving Seamus staring after her, still in shock. Parvati was really full of surprises sometimes.

* * *

Later on that morning, Parvati was sitting by the fire talking to Dean, Neville and Seamus. Well, Neville, Seamus and Parvati were talking. Dean was basically not contributing at all to the conversation, but biting his nails anxiously. Parvati noticed this and decided to enquire.

"Dean?" she said. "What's wrong?" Dean looked up sharply, as if suddenly coming to life.

"Oh, nothing he said. "I was just...wondering where Ginny was, that's all."

Seamus sighed. "Can you not live without her for five minutes, Dean?" he asked, exasperatingly.

Dean looked a bit crestfallen. "Of course I can," he said. "I'm just wondering where he is, that's all."

Seamus raised eyebrows and then gave him a look as if to say, "If you say so."

Just then, Lavender walked into the common room.

"Hey, Lavender," Parvati said. "How did Ron react to his present?" Parvati prepared to stifle a giggle. But Lavender looked so miserable, maybe she should be nice. Ron couldn't have reacted that badly. Could he?

"What's happened, Lavender?" Seamus asked, obviously reading the expression on Lavender's face also.

"I never got a chance to give him his present," Lavender replied. "Harry was dragging him out of Gryffindor Tower in a hurry to somewhere. Ron said something strange. Something about Romilda Vane.

"Romilda Vane?" Dean said, in a very surprised voice. "I didn't see that one coming."

"It is very strange," Parvi muttered aloud.

"Maybe she's hurt," Neville suggested.

"No, she's not," Seamus insisted. "I saw her earlier on today. She was fine."

"Did Ron say anything about Romilda Vane earlier to any of you?" Lavender asked, in a desperate tone. Seamus, Dean, Neville and Parvati all shook they're heads.

"Has anyone seen Ron or Harry all day?" Neville asked.

Again, they all shook they're heads. The five of them pondered. What on earth would Ron want with Romilda Vane. He liked to keep as far away as possible at the best of times. There was something very peculiar going on. Very peculiar indeed.


	13. Thoughts

Lavender couldn't sleep that night, which was very rare for her. She always went straight to sleep at night, no problem. She certainly never lay wide awake, thinking. But that was just what she was doing tonight. She didn't understand what was happening. Hermione had come into the dormitory at eleven o' clock at night, her eyes red and puffy. Lavender hadn't particularly wanted to ask her what the matter or if she knew where Ron was in case it started another row, but it was so infuriating that she couldn't even see her boyfriend on his birthday. She was also very annoyed because at that very moment she could hear Hermione sobbing and she didn't know how to go and comfort her. Should she go over to her and try and say something? Or would she just tell her to clear off? Not that she didn't deserve it, of course. Lavender had behaved horribly to Hermione all year. And she had loved Ron for an awfully long time.

She sighed again. What was she to do? She knew that eventually she had to get her act together and apologize, but she didn't want to at the moment. She couldn't really come up with any excuse as to why not, other than she was terrified. Hermione had always scared her a little bit. She had this certain way of looking at you that just made you want to shrivel up and die. And you would never expect it from such soft, brown eyes either. So, Lavender, went to sleep to the sound of Hermione's constant sobs, simply because she was scared.

* * *

The next morning, Lavender got dressed for breakfast, and as she did so, she looked over at Hermione's bed. The curtains were still drawn around her four-poste bed. It was not like Hermione to stay so long in bed, but she wasn't sure whether she should go over to her bed or not. She was sure that waking up a teenage girl, who had come in crying the previous night and had got barely any sleep, would not be very appreciated. So, she went to breakfast with Parvti instead.

"What's wrong?" Parvati asked, immediately. "You don't look as if you got a wink of sleep."

"Oh," Lavender said, wearily. "I did get a bit. A couple of hours, anyway."

"Why didn't you get much sleep?"

"I was up nearly all night worrying about Ron. Where do you think he is?"

"I really don't know. He's probably back by now, Lav."

But when they got down to breakfast, Ron wasn't there. Seamus, Dean, Harry and Neville were down there though. Ron seemed to be the only one missing because he **always** went down to breakfast with either Harry or Seamus. Lavender and Parvati took a seat opposite the boys.

"Morning," Parvati said, as cheerily as she could muster. All four boys grunted an incoherent reply.

"Harry?" said Lavender. "Do you know where Ron is?"

"Did you not hear?" Harry asked her, surprised.

"No," Lavender replied.

"Ron's in the hospital wing."

"Why?"

"Because...because he got poisoned."

Lavender was taking a swig of pumpkin juice at that exact moment that Harry chose to say that. And, of course, the poor unfortunate sap tat was sitting directly in front of Lavender, was Neville. He attempted to sluice the pumpkin juice of his face, looking quite disgusted.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Neville!" Lavender squealed. "So, Harry, he got **poisoned**?"

"Well, yeah, sort of," Harry said, awkwardly. "We were in Slughorn's office and he had some mead that someone had given him to give to Dumbledore, but he decided to keep it so he shared some out between him, me and Ron. But, it turned out, the mead was poisoned. So I just shoved a bezoar in his mouth and that kind of calmed it down a bit."

"A bit?" Seamus asked. "You saved his life, Harry." Harry started fidgeting. He always felt uncomfortable with people praising him. It was bad enough getting called "The Boy Who Lived."

"I just can't believe this," Lavender whispered. She looked like she was in a state of shock. "Who would try to poison Ron?"

"No," Harry said, sounding irritated. "Weren't you listening? The mead was supposed to be for Dumbledore."

"Oh," Lavender said, in a tiny voice. "So, when is he coming out?"

"I'm not sure."

* * *

"Parvati?" Lavender called to her friend later on that evening in they're dormitory.

"Hmm?" Parvati mumbled, engrossed in her Divination homework.

"I'm going to the hospital wing to visit Ron. Do you want to come?"

"No, thanks. I don't want to be the third wheel."

"You won't. He'll be resting."

"All the same, I don't want to intrude."

"OK, I'll go by myself."

And with that, Lavender set off for the hospital wing. She was very nervous for some reason. What would she say to Ron? What if his whol family were there? She couldn't just impose. And it would be pretty embarassing, anyway. Oh well, she was just going to have to cope with the consequnces of whatever happens.

But to her disappointment, when she arrived at the hospital wing, Ron was asleep.

**Oh**, she thought. **Well, that's a bit annoying! **She walked over to his bed gingerly, as if he would suddenly wake up and lash out at her. She sat down carefully on the nearest chair, not wanting to scrape it on the floor and wake him up.

"Hi, Won-Won," she muttered, awkwardly. "How are you? Well, that's a bit of a stupid question! Happy birthday, by the way! Sorry you practically missed it! Well, I miss you, Ron. I'll come back again and visit you soon. Hopefully you'll be awake next time I come. Well, bye."

She rose from her seat, and very awkwardly, gave him a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Parvati was still doing her Divination when Lavender got back to the dormitory.

"How was Ron?" she asked. "Well, he looks fine. I don't know how he feels because he was fast asleep."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Lavs."

"It's OK. I'll go and see him tomorrow. Alright then, let's get this Divination done, shall we?"

About half an hour later, Lavender and Parvati were still poring over they're Divination homework, when Hermione came in. She actually seemed bouncy.

"Hi," Parvati said. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, nowhere," Hermione replied, nonchalantly. "Just visiting Ron in the hospital wing."

Lavender snapped her head towards Hermione.

"How have you been visiting Ron?" she asked, sounding confused, almost threatening. "He was asleep when I went in."

"Oh," Hermione replied, hastily. "Yeah, I know. Harry and I went in to see him, but he was asleep and we waited for ages but he never woke up, so we just came back. I think I'm going to go over my Potions book."

And with that, she grabbed a book off her shelf (Arithmancy, **not **Potions, Parvati noticed) and pulled the curtains around her four-poster bed, leaving Lavender to glare at the now hidden Hermione, suspiciously.

* * *

The next morning, Harry was having his breakfast ruined by Mclaggen droning on. He kept on telling Harry "useful" tips on how to improve his Quidditch strategy. Harry got so fed up after a while, that he left breakfast early, leaving half of his bacon, kippers and toast. On the way back up to Gryffindor Tower, he saw Lavender, who was carrying a bouquet of flowers and heading the in the completely opposite way of the Great Hall.

"Hey, Lavender!" Harry called. "Where are you going? Are you not going to breakfast?"

"Oh, no," Lavender replied. "I thought I'd go and see Ron in the hospital wing."

"Really? This early?"

"Well, yes. You see, he was asleep when I went to visit him last night."

"Really?

"Yes. Hang on. Wasn't he asleep when you and Hermione went to see him last night? That's what Hermione said."

"Oh, yeah, he was!" Harry replied, quickly. "He was! But I was just surprised that he was asleep that long! That's all!"

"Oh, OK. Well, I'll see you later Harry."

"Yeah, see you."

Harry walked on toward Gryffindor Tower, head spinning with confusion would have had to wake up about one minute (literally) after Lavender had left, because he (Harry) remembered seeing Lavender a little bit ahead them as he and Hermione were walking to the hospital wing, and Ron was was wide awake by the time they got there. It was all very strange. But Harry didn't think about it too much. He already had bigger problems. Ginny, Mclaggen, he couldn't figure out what Snape and Dumbledore could have been arguing about, and he still hadn't figured out what Draco was up to or how to get the memory from Slughorn. That was the biggest problem of all, so far. He had no idea how to retrieve the memory from Slughorn. It seemed incredibly difficult, yet it couldn't be impossible, otherwise Dumbledore wouldn't have asked him to do it. So, what was he to do?

"Hello, Harry."

Harry was so deep in thought, that he wasn't looking where he was going and walked straight into Luna.

"Oh, Luna! Hi! Sorry, I didn't hurt you, did I?"

"No, not at all," said Luna, in her usual far away voice. "Are you alright, Harry?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry replied. "Why?"

"No reason," "It's just that, you look worried about something. Is it the Quidditich match coming up?"

"Oh, err, yeah. Sort of."

"Well, don't worry. You'll be fine."

"Thanks, Luna. But it's not actually just the Quidditch match. It's a whole bunch of other complicated stuff."

"Is it about Ron as well?"

"Well, that, yes. And some other things as well."

Luna sensed that Harry didn't exactly want to spill everything out to her. So, she simply said:

"Well, whatever they are, Harry, don't worry about them. I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Thanks, Luna," Harry said again.

Harry continued to walk on towards Gryffindor Tower. He knew that Luna was only talking about the Quidditch match, but maybe she was right. Maybe he could figure out what Draco was up to **and **get the memory from Slughorn. He just had to try his hardest, and his hardest had suddenly brought him a long way in the past. He just had to hope that this year would be no different. So on he walked, with his thoughts still spiralling.


	14. Casualties

Hello everyone! I hope this chapter is OK. I dedicate this chapter to Miriamimus...sorry for being so grumpy...xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I love you all! Please no flames! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

* * *

The whole crowd watched in awe Harry's head and the Bludger collided. Ginny, now completely stationary up in the air, gasped as he fell of his broom. Beside her, Dean also froze in the air and started chuckling. He didn't even try and be discreet about him. Ginny scowled at him.

"What are you laughing at?" she snapped. "It's not funny!"

"Just look at him!" said Dean, pointing at Harry, who was now falling down towards the ground of the Quidditch pitch. "Stupid berk!"

"No, he's not!" Ginny insisted, indignantly. "How is he a berk? Mclaggen beat a Bludger straight at him!"

Dean stopped laughing abruptly, shocked at Ginny's tone.

"Ginny, calm down! Why do you care so much?"

"Because...Harry's my friend!"

"So? Harry's my friend!"

"Yeah? Some friend you are."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, are you that stupid that you can't work it out for yourself?"

Dean was so shocked at this that he nearly fell off **his **broom.

"I'm saying," Ginny continued, in the same fierce tone. "Harry could be really hurt now, and all you can do is watch and laugh! Yeah, you're a really good "friend", Dean!"

She flew away and left Dean, looking bemused.

As the day went on, Ginny was in a foul mood. Even fouler than usual, especially with Dean. She could not be bothered to go back to Gryffindor Tower and change, so instead she lingered in the corridor by the Quidditch pitch, while victorious Hufflepuffs walked past her and gave her smug looks. But she did not care.

She stayed in that corridor for two hours without moving. The corridor had been deserted for about an hour and a half, but suddenly she heard footsteps around the corner. She didn't bother to turn around and see who it was, but she soon felt someone put their hands across her eyes and whisper in her ear, "Guess who?"

"Hi, Dean," she said, flatly.

"Hi!" Dean said, removing his hands from her face. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Why are you looking so sad?"

"We lost, Dean."

"Yeah, but it's not the end of the world."

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned her back to him, her arms folded. Dean took hold of her wrists and turned her back around.

"Look," he said. "I'm sorry for laughing at Harry."

"Why are you saying sorry to me? It's Harry you should be apologizing to."

"OK, but I am sorry. I should have been more considerate."

Because she didn't say anything in reply, Dean thought that she had calmed down a bit. So he started to kiss her. Ginny, at first, merely refused to respond. But then, she pushed him away.

"Dean, don't," she said, and walked away. Dean, feeling hurt, wondered whether he should go after her. But he then realised that this would be a recipe for disaster. So, he made his way back up to Gryffindor Tower. What was up with Ginny these days? She couldn't have just walked away for no reason. Had he done something?

When he got back to the common room, he saw Seamus talking to Parvati by the fire. Dean went over to them.

"Seamus?" he started. "Can I asked you a personal question?"

Seamus, obviously taken aback, edged slightly away from Dean on the sofa.

"It depends how personal," he answered. Dean edged slightly closer to Seamus.

"Do I have bad breath?" he whispered.

"I'm really not comfortable with you being this close to me!" Seamus replied.

"No, Seamus, seriously. Do I ever have bad breath?"

"Seamus shook his head. "No, not that I know of. Why?"

"No reason. It's just that, Ginny..."

"Did Ginny say you had bad breath?" Seamus asked, trying not to laugh.

"No!" Dean insisted. "No, it's not that! It's just, well, I tried to kiss her just now and pushed me away."

"Oh," Seamus said. "Well, I don't know why that is, mate, but you don't have bad breath."

"So am I just a bad kisser, then?"

Seamus edged away even more.

"How am I supposed to know!?" he asked, in horror. "Seriously, Dean! I'm running out of sofa room here!"

"Sorry," Dean said, coming to his senses. "Sorry. I need to go." He departed from the room and made his way up the boys' staircase.

"Oh, poor Dean!" Parvati said, a solemn expression on his face.

"Poor Dean?" Seamsu asked. "Why?"

"Well, I hate to be the one that says it, but if a girl pushes her boyfriend away when he tries to kiss her, then it usually means that she likes someone else."

Seamus took a moment to digest this. "Really?" he asked, finally.

"Well, yeah."

"Are you sure Ginny wasn't just in a bad mood? I mean, we did just lose the Quidditch match."

"Seamus, it's Ginny. If she was simply in a bad mood, she wouldn't let Dean near enough to try and kiss her in the first place."

"True. So, do you want to break it to Dean?"

"What? No! It's just a theory! I mean, that is what usually what happens, but I'm not certain! But it is very likely."

"So, why don't you ask Ginny if she likes someone else? And if she does, who is it?"

"Ginny's a closed book. The only person she confides in is Hermione."

"So, why don't you ask Hermione?"

"No! Ginny obviously wants to keep it a secret if she only told Hermione!"

"Your're really nice, Parvati," said Seamus, in amazement. "Too nice."

"Thanks, I think. So, why don't you ask Hermione or Ginny?"

"No way! I'm no good with this girl stuff! You're the girl! You do it!"

"I just said! I'm not doing it!"

"OK, fine! Neither of us will do it!"

"Fine! I could be wrong anyway."

"Oh, come on, Parvati. We both know that you are never wrong about these kind of things!"

"Yeah, that's true. Oh well, it's none of our business."

* * *

Whilst, Parvati and Seamus were having this debate, Hermione and Ginny were talking in Ginny's dormitory. Ginny had just told Hermione what had happened with Dean.

"Ginny," Hermione said, sternly. "This has gone far enough. I daresay that Dean is in his dormitory right now feeling very confused. You have got to end it with him. It's not fair to him, and it's not fair to you either. You deserve to be with the person you love. It makes no sense to be with someone who you only like a little bit. You've got to break up with Dena, Ginny."

Ginny was silent for about five minutes, and then she said:

"You know, I know that all you're saying is true, but it's so much easier said than done. Can't I just wait till he dumps me?"

"And when will that be? I don't think that will be happening any time soon. Ginny, you've got to do it really soon. You're getting fed up, and just take it from me: Do not hint. The more you hint that you want to be over, the more he will cling on. You've got to do it quickly."

Ginny didn't say anything, she merely took in all that Hermione was saying. She knew that Hermione was absolutely right (as per usual), but how was she to do it?

"OK, Hermione," Ginny said, suddenly. "I'm going to do it. At least, in the next two days. I will break up with Dean."

But Ginny still had doubts. What would she do if Dean saw it coming and just clung on even tighter. Well, if he acted like that, then she'll just have to be extremely blunt, and she did not want to put Dean throught that. As annoying as he was, he didn't deserve it. So, Hermione and Ginny sat there and brooded over the best way to break Dean's heart as gently as possible.


	15. Broken Up

Hello! Hope you enjoy this chapter! It's a big one! And by the way, just to tell all you reviewers, something is wrong with my email's server thingy and I haven't recieved any emails from FanFiction for some reason. So, I'm not just being rude to all of you and ignoring you! I love you all, and each and every one of your reviews mean the world to me! Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this chapter!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

* * *

"Errm...Lavender?"

"Yes, Won-Won?"

Ron was outside the Great Hall with Lavender. He was finally attempting to break up with her. He was very nervous. His hands were shaking and he was turning pink. He had never broken up with someone before. He didn't think it would be this nervewracking.

"The thing is, I really like you, I do." As he said this, he crossed his fingers behind his back. "But, I just think that..."

"Oh, Won-Won!"

"Don't call me that!" Ron said, snapping a little bit.

"Oh, you are so sweet! I have been thinking the exact same thing!"

"You have?" Ron breathed a sigh of relief. **Yes! **he thought. **She wanted us to break up as well! Now she can break up with me and I won't have to say anything Yes! **

"Of course I have!" Lavender went on. "I think we should take our relationship to the next level!"

"Yeah, so do- WHAT?"

"I'm so relieved that you were thinking the same thing!"

"The next level?" Ron's voice broke as he said this awful sentence. "I think the level we're on is fine, Lavender!"

"Really? You do?"

"Yes, definitely!" He didn't even want to know what the next level was!

"Oh, OK," Lavender said, slightly disgruntled. "So what were you going to say?"

Ron took a deep breath. "Well, I don't think that it's working with us."

Comprehension suddenly dawned on Lavender's face. She suddenly realised what it was that Ron was trying to say. She looked at her watch.

"Oh, is that the time? Sorry, Ron, I promised I would meet Parvati before Divination."

"Oh, OK. But just listen to me, it won't take long. I promise."

"No, Ron! I really have to go! But I'll meet you here before lunch, OK?"

"Well, OK. If you really can't wait."

"No, I really can't! I'll meet you here before lunch!" She gave Ron a brief kiss and ran off. Ron sighed. Then he called after her.

"But class doesn't start for another half an hour!" But Lavender didn't stop running or turn around. He had a feeling that Lavender knew what he was going to say and that was why she ran away. So, if she kept doing that, how was he supposed to do it?

Elsewhere, Ginny was trying to say something incredibly similar to Dean Thomas. They were going for a walk by the lake, hand in hand.

"Dean?" Ginny said, quietly.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"I need to tell you something."

"Yeah, OK. Actually, I have to tell you something too. I have a feeling that it's same thing that you want to tell me."

"Really?" Ginny gave a sigh of relief. It would be such a relief if Dean broke up with her first! "In that case, you go first then."

"OK." Dean took hold of both Ginny's hands and looked into her eyes. "I think I'm falling in love with you."

There was a long pause. Ginny wished that the ground would just open up and swallow her. What was she to say? She just said the first thing that came to her head.

"Oh no."

Dean looked both confused and hurt.

"What?" he asked, quietly.

"Oh, nothing" said Ginny, suddenly realising what she had just said. "Nothing, it's just...ermm...I have to go."

And she let go of Dean's hands and ran away, leaving him standing by the lake with a wounded expression on his face.

**Oh dear**, Ginny thought to herself as she made her way back to Gryffindor Tower. **I am the most terrible, _terrible _person in the world! My boyfriend tells me he loves me and I run away! Great! Great thinking, Ginny! But, why couldn't Harry have said that?**

Meanwhile, Harry was in the Owlery, worring about his usual problems. Hedwig was his only familiar companion, and she couldn't really answer his questions or solve his problems. But now, he had a new problem. Had Tonks really been in love with Sirius? Or was it just his imagination. It would certainly explain why she was so miserable. And, also, he had partly figured out Malfoy's plan why was he getting Crabbe and Goyle to turn into girls and guard the door? What was he doing inside the Room of Requirement? His thoughts were interrupted by quick footsteps running up the steps to the Owlery, accompanied by heavy breathing. Harry turned around to see who it was.

"Harry!" Ginny shouted in shock. "Hi! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question," Harry replied, slightly amused.

"Oh. Well, I'm running away from Dean. You?" Harry didn't know whether he was upset or pleased at this news. He chose to be pleased. After all, Ginny didn't look very happy.

"Well, I come up here to think sometimes."

"Really? So do I. And the Lake, but that's where Dean is, so...I sometimes go to the Room of Requirement as well, but I think someone is in there."

Harry stared at Ginny. "Really?" he said. "Who?"

"I don't know. I didn't see anyone go in. But there was a little first year girl outside it with a flask of frogspawn. And when I walked past, she dropped it! So sweet! And I just asumed that her friend was in there, and she was just waiting for her. Why do you look so shocked, Harry?"

"Oh, no reason. It's just I didn't know that first years knew about the Room of Requirement. I mean, I didn't know about it until last year."

"Yeah, I know. Neither did I. But I'm sure students have heard about what went on last year in the Room of Requirement. So they probably know about it now."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right. So, why are you running away from Dean."

Ginny hesitated. Then she said, "Long story. Too long to get into."

Ginny and Harry had a nice, lengthly discussion up in the Owlery, until Harry looked at his watch and pointed out that class started in five minutes. Harry did not want to leave her. He wanted to stay up in the Owlery, just the two of them. But, it wasn't a good idea to be late for Defence Against the Dark Arts again. Snape would be livid.

* * *

Harry had no idea what to do about anything anymore. He was sitting in the common room, looking into the fire. He still had no clue how to get the memory from Slughorn, he didn't know what was going on between Ginny and Dean, the only thing he knew about Malfoy's plan was that he had Crabbe and Goyle pretending to be girls and standing guard for him outside the door to the Room of Requirement and he still didn't know whether he should go to Aragog's burial or not.

Harry looked over at Ron, who appeared to be having a very intense conversation with Lavender. But then, suddenly, Lavender said something to Ron quickly, then departed up the girls' staircase. Ron sighed deeply and put his head in his hands. Harry reached a decision and got to his feet. At the moment, he was in a dilemma. And in dilemma's, he needed all the luck he could get.

* * *

Seamus, Parvati and Neville were having a nice, friendly conversation later on that evening in the common room. The three of them were just talking about how unusually quiet it was in the common room that evening, when Hermione and Ron came down from the boys' staircase at around the same time as Lavender came down the girl's staircase.

"What were you doing up there with her?" Lavender demanded.

"Uh oh," Seamuss muttered. "We should go Neville."

"Yeah," Neville agreed, eagerly, jumping up out of his seat.

"I'm coming with you!" Parvati insisted. "Don't you dare abandon me down here!" Parvati, Seamus and Neville walked towards the boys' staircase as quickly as they could without running.

"Good luck mate," Seamus whispered to Ron as they passed him. Parvati gave Hermione a kind look before they went up the stairs.

Lavender folde her arms crossly. Hermione had never seen her look so angry.

"Well?" Lavender snapped. "Are you going to answer my question?" Ron simply just stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking at the floor. So Hermione decided to answer herself.

"Lavender," she started. "Nothing was...errm...happening with me and Ron up there. We were really just talking."

"Oh, sure!" Lavender gave a false laugh. "You were just "talking"! Do you really think I'm stupid?"

"Lavender, you have to believe us!" Hermione exclaimed, indignantly.

"Why should I believe anything you say? After the misery that you've put me through!"

"The misery that** I've **put **you **through? I can't believe you would say that!"

"Ron, don't just stand there with your hands in your pockets!" Lavender yelled. "Say something!"

Ron cleared his throat. "We really weren't doing anything," he muttered. There was a long silence, and during it tears slowly poured down Lavender's flushed cheeks.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Hermione said, quietly. "Night, Ron."

Ron raised his head to watch Hermione walk up the girls' staircase.

"So, are we going to talk about this?" Lavender asked, her voice breaking.

Ron shrugged. "Well, there's nothing to really talk about. Me and Hermione were up there, but we didn't do anything except talk. What more do you want me to say?"

"Just this. You've got to make a decision, Ron. Hermione or me. Who's it going to be?"

Ron looked her in the eye for the first time that evening. He looked confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You have to choose between me or Hermione. If you choose Hermione, then we're over. But if you choose me, you can't talk to Hermione anymore."

"What? Are you mental? Hermione's my best friend!"

"I asked you a simple question, Ron."

"No, it's not a simple question! I can't believe you'd even ask something like that!"

"Well, I did. So who's it going to be?"

"Well, I'm not going to stop talking to hermione. No way. I'm not going to cut her out of my life just for you."

Lavender closed her eyes, but even so, more tears spurted out from beneath her closed eyelids. "So, you choose her then?"

"I guess so." There was a long pause while Lavender sobbed quietly and Ron bit his lip nervously.

"So, we're broken up then?" Ron asked, just to clarify.

"I guess so."

Lavender wiped her eyes one final time, and walked up the girls' staircase.

Meanwhile, by the portrait hole, Dean and Ginny were having a heated argument.

"What's wrong with you?" Dean was shouting. "I mean, why do you always fly off the handle whenever I try and help you through the portrait hole?"

"Are you stupid or something, Dean? OK, I lose my temper when you help me through the portrait hole because i've told you about a thousand times: I CAN DO IT MYSELF!"

"OK, fine! But apart from that, what is your problem?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? I mean your attitude!"

"What's wrong with my attitude!?"

When I tried to kiss you, you pull away, you're always snappy and irritable and when I told you I loved you, you ran away!"

"I only ran away because I know that you don't love me!"

"How do you know that, Gnny? You're the one who had a fit when I was "trying to tell you your feelings"! Now you're doing the exact time thing to me!"

"Because if you really loved me then you would listen to me, you would really **want **to know why I'm always angry and upset!"

"Oh, come on, Ginny! We both know that I do want to know!"

"No, you don't! You ask me once and then that's it! You know, I don't think I can do this anymore!"

"DO WHAT!?"

"I CAN'T BE WITH YOU ANYMORE!"

Dean suddenly stood stock still. "Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't really like you in that way."

There was a long pause, and then, "So, why did you say yes when I asked you out?"

"Because, I thought I did at first. But then, I realised I really didn't have feelings for you. I'm so sorry, Dean."

"Was it because I said I loved you. Did that scare you off?"

"No, Dean! It's nothing to do with that! I started feeling this way long ago."

"So, why didn't you tell me up until now?"

"Because, I just thought I would change my mind. And I was too scared. I didn't want to hurt you."

"Bit late for that." There was a big silence, during which Ginny was mentally wishing that Dean would ask the question she was dreading. But it was no use.

"So, do you have feelings for smebody else?" he asked. There was another unbearably long pause.

"That's not really any of your business."

"What do you mean it's none of my business? I deserve to know who I'm being dumped for!"

"Dean! Please don't make it any harder than it already is! Please?"

"OK. OK, fine. I'm just really sorry, that's all. Because I really liked you."

"See? Liked. Not loved."

"If you say so. Ginny, you're a closed book. You have to open up sometimes."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying, it's all right if you don't really share with people, but you have to let people in sometimes. Especially your boyfriend."

"Ex-boyfriend! And it's my decision who I choose to open up to! Just because I don't tell you anything doesn't mean I'm a closed book!"

"OK! OK! Ginny I really don't want to end on bad terms. I understand that you're upset with me, but can we at least try and be friends?"

"But I wasn't friends with you before we went out, why should we be friends now? As a matter of fact, why did you even ask me out? I never really thought of that."

Dean looked confused by the question. "Errm...because I liked you. Isn't that obvious?"

"But I'd never even spoken to you before then! How did you know what I was like?"

"Believe me, if I knew what I was in for, I probably wouldn't have asked you out!"

Ginny pursed her lips. "Thanks."

"No, Ginny! I didn't mean that!"

"You obviously did! So, why did you asked me out?"

"Because...well, because...I thought you were...you know?"

"Because you thought I was hot?"

"Well, yeah."

"I see. That is so...pathetically shallow!"

"Alright, just calm down, Ginny!"

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down! I'm going to bed!" She stormed past Dean, who still looked hurt, but more confused now.

As she swept up the girls' staircase, Ginny breathed a sigh of relief. Even though she and Dean were now broken up, a little smile crept onto her face. The truth was, even though they were now broken up, Ginny Weasley could not be happier.


	16. Truth Be Told

Hermione was sitting on her bed, deep in her thoughts. She didn't know whether to feel bad for Lavender or not. She had brought all this on herself. Then, Hermione realised that she was bored. But she didn't want to go down the girls' staircase in case Ron and Lavender were still down there, and they could be fighting. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Hermione suddenly felt her stomach do a somersault. But then she realised that it couldn't be Lavender because she wouldn'tknock on the door to her own dormitory, and it couldn't be Ron because boys weren't allowed in the girls' dormitories.

"Come in!" she called, in an unusually high voice.

The door opened and Ginny walked in, her face flushed and her eyes shining. "Hi!" she sang.

"Hello! What are you looking so cheerful for?"

"I just broke up with Dean!"

"Really? Finally! Did you let him down easy?"

Ginny hesitated. "Errmm...sure," she said, finally.

"Ginny," Hermione said, suddenly looking stern.

"Well, we had a bit of an argument! I mean, he only asked me out in the first place because he thought I was hot!"

"Oh, shock horror disaster!" Hermione exclaimed, sarcastically. "A boy asked you out because you were attractive? Oh, no!"

"You know what I mean, Hermione! That's the **only **reason he asked me out. I'd never even spoken to him before then!"

"So, why did you say yes?"

"I don't know. I wasn't really thinking properly."

"I'll say," said Hermione, rolling her eyes.

"Hermione, come on! I mean, imagine if Ron only asked you out because he thought you were good-looking?"

"Well, that's not going to happen anyway."

"You know, I thought you were meant to be the smart one!"

"What? He is going out with Lavender. Well, I think he is."

"What do you mean?" Hermione told Ginny the whole story.

"So, why did you come back upstairs?" Ginny asked.

"Because I couldn't exactly just stand there. They were having a fight. I was starting to feel really uncomfortable."

"OK. So, what are you going to do if they have broken up?"

"Nothing!"

"Hermione! If Ron and Lavender have broken up, then it's your time to make a move!"

"I can't do anything yet! Even if they have broken up, it would be just now!"

"OK, fine. Do you know where Harry is?"

"Oh, he's gone to Aragog's funeral."

"Who?"

"That giant spider of Hagrid's."

"Oh, yeah. Why?"

"No idea."

* * *

Meanwhile, down by the lake, Dean was skimming stones. He couldn't believe that it was over between him and Ginny. I mean, he couldn't lie to himself, he supposed that it would be sooner or later. But he still couldn't believe it. Maybe Ginny was right though. Maybe he never loved her. But he still liked her a lot. And now she was gone.

Suddenly, Dean heard footsteps behind him. He wheeled around sharply, his wand raised. He couldn't be too careful, after all, it was dark at this time. But then, he realised it was only Luna.

"Hello, Dean Thomas," she said, serenely.

"Oh, hi Luna," Dan said, quietly.

"What's the matter?"

"Errm..well, if you must know, Ginny and I split up."

"Oh no. What happened?"

"Well, she just didn't like me anymore."

"I'm sorry, Dean." Suddenly, Luna clasped Dean's hand. He was very shocked, after all, it was Luna. But he found that he didn't want her to let go. He felt ...very strange. He looked at Luna, and she smiled at him.

"So, Luna, what's going on with you? I've known you for a while, and I've never actually got to **know **you."

"Well, there's not much to know really. My name is Luna Lovegood. I'm seventeen years old. My father is Xenophilius Lovegood and my mother died when I was nine years old. My father is the editore of a magazine called the Quibbler."

Dean was speechless. He had no idea about Luna's mother. "I'm so sorry about your mother," he said, softly.

"It's OK," Luna said. They walked back up to the castle in the cold night air, they're hands still clasped.

* * *

"Hermione!" The next day, Ginny Weasley was running all over Hogwarts like a crazy person, looking for Hermione. Then, about a mile away, she saw Luna.

"Luna!" she yelled, running after her. "LUNA!

"Oh, hello Ginny!" Luna said, as soon as she'd run up to her.

"Have you seen Hermione?" Ginny asked, panting.

"No, I'm sorry. Have you checked the library.

Ginny stopped for a moment. She couldn't believe her stupidity. She hadn't checked the library! That was the most obvious place to find Hermione.

"No, I haven't" she told Luna, slowly. "Thanks, Luna." As she started running again, Luna called after her.

"Ginny! Sorry about you and Dean!"

"What? Oh, it's alright!"

When Ginny got to the library, she saw Hermione studying old copies of _The Daily Prophet_. She ran towards her.

"Hermione!" she said.

"Hello, Ginny," Hermione replied, looking quite amused. "What bring you here? Oh, are you here to study for your OWLs?"

"Are you joking? Hermione, I've got more important things to do!"

"What's more important than-"

"I just I'd let you know that...I'm going to find Harry to tell him how I feel. I'm going to tell him everything!"

"What? You mean, now?"

"Yes!" Ginny exclaimed, excitedly. "I was just looking for you to tell you!"

"Oh! Well, good luck!"

"Thanks! Have you seen Harry anywhere?"

"I have no idea, sorry. But, try the Room of Requirement."

"Why would he be there?"

"Oh...I don't know...Harry's just taken to hanging around out there."

"O...K...Oh, by the way, Hermione. Could you please do me a favour and not tell Ron about this?"

"Of course I won't!"

Ginny gave her a small smile, before running off in search of Harry. She took Hermione's suggestion and looked by the Room of Requirement, but he wasn't there. Then, she had a hunch that he might be in the Owlery again so she checked there, but Harry wasn't there either. She looked in all the possible places: the Quidditch pitch, the Lake, the Great Hall. But he wasn't anywhere. And it wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, so he had to be inside Hogwarts somewhere. She'd just have to wait until later.

She made her way to the Gryffindor common room, and she saw Hermione sitting an armchair, still studying old articles _from The Daily Prophet_. When she saw Ginny, she averted her eyes away from the articles and smiled.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"It didn't," Ginny sighed.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, puzzled. Ginny told Hermione the whole story.

"That's very strange," Hermione said, slowly. "Did you check outside the Room of Requirement."

"Yes, I did. I checked everywhere, but I couldn't find him. But, don't worry. I have a plan."

"Which is?"

"Well, we have a match against Ravenclaw next Saturday, so after the match I can talk to Harry. And hopefully we'll win, because then Harry will be in a really good mood since we'd have just won the Quidditch Cup and since Harry is Quidditch Captain..."

"Ah, I see! Good idea! Oh, Harry's coming now! Do you want to talk to him now?" And sure enough, Harry had just entered the portrait hole. He was being waylaid by Seamus and Parvati, who had looked shocked about something. but from where Ginny and Hermione were sitting they could only see his head.

"No, it's OK," Ginny decided. "I'll just wait till after the match."

"Can you really wait a week?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Ginny said, but she sounded uncertain.

"Why can't you just talk to him now?"

"Because you're here!"

"So? I'll go! Or, you can simply just ask Harry if you can go for a walk to talk in private?"

"Oh, OK. Maybe I will talk to him now."

Harry managed to shake off Seamus and Parvati and he started walking towards Hermione and Ginny.

"Hey, Harry!" Ginny said, as he got closer. "I've been looking for you! Do you want to go for a-" Ginny stopped in mid-setence to gasp loudly. She was promptly joined by Hermione.

"Is that blood?" Ginny asked, in shock.

"Yeah," Harry said. He looked miserable. "I ran into Malfoy in the bathroom."

Hermione put her hand to her mouth and then said, "Oh, Harry!"

"What happened?" Ginny asked. "And why do you have your schoolbag with you? It's a Saturday."

"Well, I had my map and I saw Malfoy and Moaning Myrtle in the boys' bathroom."

"Moaning Myrtle?" Hermione asked, removing her hand from her mouth so that she sounded coherent. "Why on earth-?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Harry interrupted. "So I went into the bathroom, and I saw Malfoy crying."

"Crying?" Ginny asked, shocked. "Malfoy?"

"Yeah, I know," Harry replied. "He obviously wasn't very pleased to see me. So he tried jinxing me a couple of times. Then he tried to torture me with the Cruciatus Curse. But before he could get _Crucio _out of his mouth...I..erm...Hermione, do you remember that _Sectumsempra _spell I saw in my Potions book?"

"Yes," Hermione said, suspiciously. "Oh, Harry, you didn't."

"Yep. I used the spell on Malfoy. And he started bleeding all over. It was weird. It was like invisible holes had appeared all over Malfoy's skin. There was blood was pouring out everywhere. The Moaning Myrtle started screaming and Snape came running. He mended Malfoy's wounds and sent him up to the hospital wing. Then he made me get all my schoolbooks and I borrowed Ron's Potions book and hid mine in the Room of Requirement. Then, Snape gave me detention at ten o' clock on every Saturday until the end of the year."

There was silence. Then, Hermione shook her head slowly. "Harry, I told you. I told you and I _told _you."

"Hermione, seriously, I'm not in the mood."

"Hold on!" Ginny said, suddenly. "Every Saturday? But you can't miss the Quidditch match! Your our Seeker!"

"Oh, yeah," Harry said. "You'll have to play seeker for me, Ginny."

"Me? So, who's going to play Chaser in my place?"

"Oh, well, I suppose I'll have to ask Dean."

"Dean?" Ginny asked, incredulously. "Are you sure there's no one else you can ask?"

"Positive. Unless you would rather have Mclaggen."

Ginny paused. "Good point," she concluded.

Over the next ten minutes, Ron joined them, so Harry had to repeat the story along with more "I told you's" from Hermione. Ron looked as disappointed as Ginny. Then, Hermione started to get increasingly irritating, resulting Ginny to snap at her. After a few minutes, Giny departed to go up the girls' staircase. Hermione rushed after her immediately, saying hasty goodnight's to Ron and Harry.

"Ginny!" she called. What was all that about?"

"What do you mean?" Ginny asked, stopping.

"You bit my head off in there!"

"Oh, sorry. I was just annoyed because Harry can't play next week, and on top of that, Dean is replacing me as Chaser. Great!"

"So, what are you going to do?" asked Hermione.

"Well, I'll still talk to him after the match. But he won't be in the best of moods because there's no way we can win without Harry."

"You might. Just be more positive. And anyway, whether you win or not, Harry will still be happy when you talk to him."

"And why is that?"

"Because he feels the same way you do! It was so obvious that he was thrilled when I told him that you and Dean broke up!"

"Well, maybe he was just looking out for me because I'm his best friend's ittle sister."

"Rubbish!"

"Well, whether he feels the same way or not, I am going to talk to Harry after the match."

"So what are you going to tell him?" Hermione asked.

"The truth," Ginny said, softly. "I'm simply going tell him that I'm in love with him. That I've been in love with him since I first laid eyes on him five years ago."


	17. Happiness

Ginny couldn't believe how happy she was. She was walking by the Lake, hand in hand with the boy she had loved since she was in first year. Suddenly, Harry started talking, interrupting thoughts.

"So, how was the match?"

"Oh, it was amazing," she replied. "It was so amazing. Katie scored so many goals, and as for Ron! I've never seen him play a game that amazing!"

"Oh, good!"

"But it wasn't the same without you," she said softly, before kissing him. They finally drew breath, both of them smiling.

"I feel so lucky," Harry said, kissing her neck. "I feel like I've waited for you for so long."

"Me too." They both stood in silence while Harry kept kissing her neck and playing with her hair.

"Ginny," he said, softly.

"Yeah." She looked at him, straight into his wonderful, bright green eyes.

"Ginny, I just want you to know something. I don't just like you. I'm in love with you."

Ginny was quiet for a while, biting her bottom lip gently.

"Harry, I love you too," she said. "I really do. So much." And she kissed him, and Harry felt that he just wanted to go on kissing her for ever. When they eventually stopped, Ginny looked into his eyes again.

"Harry, we're just meant to be together. It doesn't matter how long it took you to realize."

"Well, I've realized now," said Harry, kissing her.

After a while, they walked back into the castle. When they got to Gryffindor Tower, the celebrations had been long since over. Only Romilda Vane and a few of her friends were in the common room, whispering urgently, no doubt gossiping about Ginny and Harry. The group of girls giggled a couple of times.

"Errm, I have to go and talk to Ron," Harry said, before kissing her on the cheek.

"Alright," Ginny answered. "I'll see you later." As Harry walked up the boys' staircase, Ginny went to sit in the armchair by the fire and started skimming through a copy of _Witch Weekly _that had been left on the armchair. But, barely a minute later, Romilda Vane walked towards her.

"Errm, Ginny?" she said, in her bold voice.

"Yeah?" Ginny asked, suspiciously. What could Romilda Vane possibly want?

"I just wanted to ask you a question." When she said this, she looked back at her group of girlfriends, who giggled on cue.

"Is it true that Harry has a Hippogriff tattooed across his chest?" she asked, quietly. After a long pause, Ginny started to laugh. Of course, the answer that came to her mind was:

**"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! And, how would I know anyway? I've only been going out with him for a couple of hours!" **She was just about to say exactly this to Romild, but then she thought she might have a bit of fun with Romilda.

"Oh, no!" she said, trying with all her might not to burst into peals of hysterical laughter. "No! Harry's got a tattoo of a Hungarian Horntail on his chest!"

Romilda's dark eyes widened, agog. "Really? A Horntail? Wow! Thanks, Ginny!"

"No problem!" she said, as Romilda ran over to tell her friends.

"Oh, and Romilda!"

"Yeah?"

"You know my brother Ron? He's got a tattoo as well!

"Really?"

"Yeah! It's a Pygmy Puff!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Hermione, Ron and Harry were talking up in the boys' dormitory.

"It's OK, Harry," Ron was saying. "I've given you my permission, mate."

"Thanks," Harry said, smiling.

"I have to say though, it is quite unexpected," Ron said, still looking as bemused as he did a couple of hours ago in the common room.

Not really," Hermione insisted.

"Well, not for you," Ron answered. "You have that woman intuition, don't you?"

Hermione laughed. "You know, you're quite strange sometimes, Ron. Anyway, Harry, I have to say this. You shouldn't spend too much time with Ginny."

"What?" Harry asked, incredulously. "Why? We have barely any time as it is, since it's nearly the end of the year."

"Well, it's just that she has lots of studying to do for her OWLs. And you are a major distraction to her. And also, you have got to concentrate on Dumbledore's lessons."

"But Dumbledore said that we won't have another lesson until he finds another Horcrux."

"Yes, but still, you have got a lot to be thinking about. You'll need to practise defending yourself if you're going to be going with Dumbledore. And anyway, Ginny has already done hardly any studying as it is. trust me, I know. And another thing-"

"Give it a rest, Hermione!" Ron said, exasperatingly.

"Fine!" said Hermione, stiffly. "Just giving you advice! I'll see you later."

Ron and Harry spent a while up in they're dormitory, and then half an hour later, they went back down to the common room. As they were about to sit by the fire, Ginny came down from the girls' staircase with several books.

"Hi, Ginny!" Harry said. Ron tactfully left the two of them alone and wen to sit down.

"Hey, Harry!"

"Do you fancy going for another walk?"

"Oh, I'd love to! But I can't. Hermione's making me go to the library to study for my OWLs."

"But your OWLs aren't for another month."

"I know. But, as Hermione said, the earlier the better!"

"Ginny, do you really want to go?"

"Of course I don't! But she's going to the libray too, so she'll know whether I'm there or not."

"Oh, OK then. See you later."

"Bye," Ginny said, kissing him before departing. Harry sighed after her, wistfully. Why did Hermione have to force Ginny to go to the library? She knew that they both had incredibly limited time to spend together as it was, what with his extra lessons with Dumbledore and Ginny's OWLs. He walked over to the fir to join Ron. Ron seemed determined not to talk about Harry and his sister, so he started an endless discussion about Quidditch. But then, even Ron started to get bored with this conversation, so he changed the subject.

"So, what are you going to do with the rest of your Felix Felicis?" he asked.

"No idea," Harry replied. "There's not much left of the year now, so there isn't very much to get lucky for."

"I suppose so."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the library, Hermione and Ginny were studying. Hermione was brushing up on her Potions, and Ginny was looking over her Herbology notes.

"So?" Hermione asked, not looking up from her copy of _Advanced Potion Making_.

"So what?" Ginny responded, coyly.

"You said you were going to talk to Harry. You know, **talk**. If that's how you talk these days, maybe I should keep away from you!"

"Ha ha! Very funny! But for your information, I did talk to him! After I kissed him!"

"Really? When did you guys talk?"

"We went for a walk by the Lake after the whole common room thing."

"Oh. Well, Dean looked really angry. Yeah, I know, I saw. Oh well. Can't do anything about it now!"

"I suppose."

"So, where are you and Ron now?"

"The same please we've been for the last six years! Best friends!"

"Hermione, how many times have I got to tell you? Make a move! Him and Lavender are over! This is your chance to get Ron!"

"You know, for a girl, you're not so big on the whole sensitivity thing, are you?"

"I'm just saying that you and Ron are meant to be together, and it would be a shame to sit around reading old articles from _The Daily Prophet _and not do something about it!"

"Hey! There's a reason why I'm reading those!"

"Oh yeah! Your Eileen Prince theory! But, Hermione, there are more important things!"

"Wait a minute!"

"What?" Ginny asked, as Hermione was now looking over at a far corner of the library.

"Look!" she said, shocked. "It's Seamus and Lavender!" Seamus and Lavender were sitting hunched up over one book, and from what the two girls could see, Lavender was crying, but she looked incredibly happy. Then Seamus started playing with her hair, and then he kissed her very lightly on the lips. Lavender smiled, and buried her head in his shoulder.

"Wow!" Hermione said. "She moves on quickly!"

"Exactly," Ginny said, turning away from Lavender and Seamus. "If Lavender can move on that quickly, imagine how quickly Ron could move on." Hermione sighed softly. Ginny was probably right. Maybe she would talk to Ron tomorrow. After all, Ginny and Lavender were with the people they wanted to be with, and she had never seen either of them look happier. Ginny looked once more at the tight embrace that were Seamus and Lavender, and she realised that she wasn't the only girl beaming with happiness. She was finally going out with the guy she loved: Harry Potter. In in that moment, in the library, Ginny Weasley couldn't blieve that one boy could make her feel such incredible happiness.


	18. After All This Time

Last chapter of this story!! I'm almost crying!! I really really REALLY hope you all like it! I have enjoyed writing this SOOOO MUCH! I'd like to dedicate this (once again) to Miriamimus for being my first reviewer and...just for everything! I'd also like to dedicate it to q8iya because I love her so much and she is just so cool and she always made me feel so good about myself whilst writing this story! And last, but **definitely** not least, I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to Love2Love cos she's just SO AWESOME! And I can't help but giggle at her! I love all of you guys so much, and that goes for all of you reviewers! Thank you so much for making me feel good about my writing, and on my first story too! I love you guys so much! And I have a really good idea for my next story which I will be writing VERY SOON so...stay tuned! I love you guys so much! THANK YOU ALL!

Hannah Longbottom,  
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* * *

Hermione Granger sat on her bed with her trunk open and all her things packed. She looked down at the slightly teetering pile of Horcrux books that she had just summoned from Dumbledore's office. Tears started to fall down her cheeks again as the name sprang to her mind. She couldn't believe that Albus Dumbledore was really dead. It just seemed to unreal. In fact, up until the funeral, she'd had a suspicion that she was just having a terrible nightmare, but she had seen it. She had seen the whole funeral. And that had been, unmistakably, Dumbledore's body.

Suddenly, she heard the door being opened, and Ginny walked in. Hermione didn't know this because she hadn't bothered to turn around.

"Hi," she said, in a surprisingly shaky voice. Ginny sounded so upset that Hermione turned around. She wasn't crying, but she didn't look very happy.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" Hermione asked, walking over to her.

"Errm," Ginny started, still in that shaky voice. "Harry just broke up with me."

"Oh," Hermione gasped, putting her arm around Ginny. "Ginny, I'm so sorry. Did he say why?"

"Yeah," Ginny said, fighting back tears. "He said it was because You-Know-Who would probably try and get to him through me."

Well," Hermione started, slowly. "He is right. I mean, Voldemort did that once before and that was just because you were-"

"I know!" Ginny burst out. "I know! Because I was only his best friend's little sister! He said all that! I know he's right! But what if I don't care? That's what I said to Harry! What if I don't care what You-Know-Who does to me? I love Harry, and that's all that matters to me!"

"Yeah, and you being alive is all that matters to Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "Harry wants to be with you more than anything in the world, Ginny. That's why he ended things with you! Because he loves you too much for anything to happen to you! He'd never forgive himself!"

"I know you're right," Ginny said, after a long pause. "It's just that I love him so much!"

"I know," said Hermione, soothingly. "He loves you too. That's why he did it. What else did he say?"

"Basically that we'll be together after he's killed You-Know-Who."

"Oh, OK."

"Hey, I saw you with Ron earlier on!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Hermione, sheepishly.

"Oh come on, Hermione! He was stroking your hair!"

"He was just being friendly!"

"Exactly my point! Since when is Ron ever that friendly?"

"Oh yeah! That is true!"

"So what are you going to do?"

"About what?"

"About my loser of a brother!"

"Like what, exactly?"

"Like...looking gorgeous at Bill and Fleur's wedding!"

"Oh! Look who's had a change of heart about Fleur marrying Bill!"

"I know! But you saw her in the hospital wing. She did look pretty genuine."

"Yeah, she did. And what about Lupin and Tonks!?"

"I know!" Ginny exclaimed. "I did not see that coming! Although I had noticed that Tonks had been looking rather depressed lately."

"Yeah, so did I."

"So, you'll be doing your NEWTs next year! How weird is that?"

"Actually," Hermione said, slowly. "I won't be coming back next year."

"What?" Ginny asked, shocked. "How can you leave Hogwarts? What brought this on?"

"Well, Professor Dumbledore left Harry, Ron and I a sort of job to do."

"What is it?"

"I...can't really say. Sorry Ginny."

"It's OK. But, just to let you know, Mum is going to go mental. You're going to have a job convincing her to let Ron go. And what about your parents?"

"Oh, I'll sort them out somehow," said Hermione, not letting on that she already had a plan.

"OK. Well, I'm going to go. I have loads of packing to do. Are you coming on the Hogwarts Express?"

"Yeah, I'll see you there."

"Oh, and by the way," Ginny said, stopping on her way out the door. "I asked Luna to Bill and Fleur's wedding."

"Oh, really! Is she coming then?"

"Yeah, she said she'd love to! And she's coming with her dad."

"Oh, I've never met her dad! Do you know anything about him?"

"Nope. All I know is that he's got some really weird, long, complicated name. What was it again? Xegotilius? Xenogigius? Something like that anyway."

"Oh, he sounds interesting!" Hermione laughed.

"Yeah, just like Luna," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.

About five minutes after Ginny left, the door opened again and Lavender walked in. When she saw Hermione, she gave her a small smile. Hermione very weakly returned it. Lavender started packing, her back to Hermione. Neither of them spoke to each other. Hermione tapped her fingers on her desk and Lavender seemed determined not to look at Hermione. With a sigh, Hermione decided to make the first move. After all, she didn't know when she'd see Lavender next.

She cleared her throat. "Errm..Lavender?" Lavender turned around slowly, apparently surprised that Hermione was saying anything. It was the first time she had spoken directly to her willingly for nearly a year.

"Yes?" she said, meekly.

"I just wanted to say...to say..."

"Hermione!" Lavender interrupted. "Please don't apologize."

"What?" Hermione asked, very surprised. Lavender had spent almost the whole year either upset or angry with Hermione, and now she insisted on not receiving an apology?

"This is all my fault," she went on. "I behaved horribly. I don't blame you at all for not speaking to me."

"But, you and Ron.." Hermione stuttered. "I mean, you and him broke up because of me!"

"It wasn't really because of you," Lavender sighed. "I mean, me and Ron would've broken up anyway over something else."

"But-"

"Hermione, he was always yours," she said, calmly. "You two are meant to be together. It's the way it's supposed to be. And I just got in the way, and I shouldn't have. My behaviour was...inexcusable. And I'm sorry." There was a long pause.

"Thank you," Hermione said, softly. "Thank you so much. And I am sorry."

"Hermione!" Lavender exclaimed. "Please, **please **don't be sorry! The last thing I want is for you to be sorry."

"Well, for the record, it's OK. You're completely forgiven. You're a really good friend, Lavender."

"I have been nothing but a terrible friend this past year!"

"Yes, but your apology just now. It must've taken a lot of courage for you to do that. Thank you."

"It's OK," said Lavender, and the two girls hugged.

"Right," Lavender said. "Now that that's over, can you two do us all a favour and go out with Ron?"

"What?"

"It's so obvious! You two are meant to be together! Now stop slowing it down and just go for it!"

"But you and Ron just broke up!"

"So? I'm with Seamus now."

"What? Oh, yes! Ginny and I saw you and Seamus in the library yesterday!"

"Did you?" Lavender asked, flustered. She had turned a bright shade of pink. "That's embarassing!"

"No, you guys look really good together! You looked really happy!"

"Really? Well, I am happy! Hermione?"

"Yeah?"

"Between you and me, Hermione? I think I'm falling in love with him." Of all the things Hermione expected Lavender to say, this was not one of them.

"Really!?" she asked. "Since when?"

"Since...I don't know. Even when I was going out with Ron I felt something for him. I mean there were times I wondered why I was with Ron instead of Seamus? It just didn't make any sense to me."

"Yeah, you're not the only one!" Hermione laughed.

"So, when I was in the library with him, it finally made sense. I realized how much I really love him. And he told me he loved me as well."

"Wow! I'm really happy for you, Lav!"

"Thanks! I'm really happy too!"

"It's just such a shame that you two never got a chance during this whole year, though."

"Yeah, I know. Me and Seamus talked about that and we decided we're just going to do all we can to stay in touch over the summer. You know, send owls, meet up in Hogsmeade maybe, and Seamus and I are going to ask our parents if the other can stay!"

"Well, that's good!"

"Yeah. So, what are you going to do over the summer."

"Oh, well. Ron's brother, Bill and Fleur Delacour are getting married, so I'm going to be going to The Burrow for the wedding. And then, me, Harry and Ron are going to do a little bit of...travelling."

"Oh. Where are you going to?"

"I don't know really. Everywhere, I guess."

"Oh, OK. I probably won't see you over the summer, so Ill see you next year then?"

"Actually, no you won't." Lavender froze in the middle of packing and turned around.

"What?" she asked. "Your're leaving Hogwarts?"

"Yeah. Harry, Ron and I have some...stuff to do. It's really important."

"More important than your NEWTs? Oh my goodness! Hermione Granger is going to skip her NEWTs? Seriously!?"

"Yeah, well, there are more important things. Even more important than NEWTs," she said, as Lavender opened her mouth to argue once more.

After about half an hour, both girls were packed and changed, ready to leave and catch the train.

"Coming?" Lavender asked, opening the door.

"Yeah," said Hermione, panting because she had just lifted her extremely heavy trunk off her bed. She took one last look around the room, not knowing the next time that she'd set eyes on it. The two girls walked all the way to the platform with their arms linked, laughing merrily. Hermione felt very happy and very sad at the same time. She was happy to be on speaking turns with Lavender again, but she was also upset about leaving Hogwarts and Dumbledore's death. She was half-listening to what Lavender was planning to wear if she could go to Seamus's, but she was also thinking about something that Lavneder had said: **"You two are meant to be together. It's the way it's supposed to be." **

Maybe she was right. Maybe her and Ron were supposed to be together. I mean, Lavender hadn't been the first person to say so. Well, if that were the case, if it was meant to be, it'll be. She would be with Ron someday. Maybe it will be now, or maybe later. But they would be.

"So have you really always loved Ron?" Lavender asked, suddenly. "After all this time?"

"Yep," Hermione said. "I love Ron. I always have, and I probably always will." Lavender squeezed Hermione's hand gently and Hermione smiled. "Thanks, Lav."

"No problem," Lavender replied.

And as they walked, arms linked, towards the scarlet engine that was the Hogwarts Express, Hermione let herself get lost in thoughts of the red-haired idiot that she loved, as she stared up and up into the bright blue yonder.


End file.
